CANADIAN     TYPES     OF 
THE    OLD    REGIME 


1608-1698 


.f;- 


BT 


^OM- 


CHARLES  W.  COLBY 

jyofessor  of  History  in  M'Gill  Utdvertity 


NEW  YORK 

HENRY  HOLT  AND   COMPANY 
1910 


COPTSIOBT,  1908, 
BT 

HENRY  HOLT  AND  COMPANY 
Published  July,  i^S 


.  CI 


PREFACE 

The  chapters  of  this  book  represent  lectures 
which  were  deUvered  recently  in  Ottawa  before 
the  May  Court  Club.  They  contain  no  new  mate- 
rial, and  use  with  freedom  the  works  of  others^ 
At  the  same  time  historical  facts  can  be  employed 
in  a  large  number  of  different  combinations,  and 
here  the  life  of  Canada  during  the  Old  Regime  is 
approached  by  a  route  which  as  yet  seems  not  to 
have  been  followed.  The  author's  aim  is  to  dis- 
cuss various  aspects  of  French  colonisation,  with- 
out at  any  point  straying  far  from  the  concrete. 
To  secure  distinctness  the  examples  have  been 
drawn,  chapter  by  chapter,  from  some  one  career. 
Or  rather,  a  single  personage  has  been  made  the 
representative  of  a  class,  and  in  considering  the 
large  subject  with  which  he  is  connected,  certain 
features  of  his  experience  are  rendered  promi- 
nent. But  this  method  does  not  involve  the  exact 
portraiture  of  individuals,  nor  does  it  exclude 
minor  figures  from  the  field  of  the  discussion. 

iii 

242317 


iy  Preface 

One  gives  a  hostage  to  fortune  in  publishing  a 
volume  which  discloses  his  conception  of  what  a 
popular  lecture  should  attempt.  But  History  does 
not  exist  simply  for  the  benefit  of  the  erudite,  and 
there  are  always  some  to  whom  a  book  is  recom- 
mended by  the  absence  of  specific  gravity. 

June  lath,  1908. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I  , 

^  The  Historical  Background  op  New  France 

Two  Backgrounds,  i.  The  Background  of  the  Wilderness,  2. 
The  Historical  Background,  3.  The  Renaissance,  7.  The 
Reformation,  10.  France,  14.  The  Resotu"ces  of  France 
in  the  Seventeenth  Centtuy,  17.  The  Ascendency  of  France 
in  the  Seventeenth  Century,  18.  The  Power  of  the  King, 
20.  The  French  Aristocracy,  25.  Henry  IV.,  27.  Rich- 
elieu, 29.  Colbert,  35.  The  Church  in  France,  36.  Gal- 
licanism,  38.  New  France  and  New  England,  40.  Colonial 
Theory,  42. 

CHAPTER  II 

<rHE  Explorer — Champlain 

The  Love  of  Adventure,  46.  The  Appeal  of  America  to  Europe, 
48.  Voltaire  on  Canada,  51.  The  Wilderness,  52.  The 
Indians,  53.  The  Motives  of  the  Explorer,  58.  Cham- 
plain's  Antecedents  and  Early  Life,  60.  Champlain  in 
Acadia,  64.  Champlain  at  Quebec,  66.  The  First  Battle 
of  the  French  with  the  Iroquois,  69.  Champlain's  Expedi- 
tion against  the  Onondagas,  73.  Champlain  and  Vignau, 
74.  La  Salle,  76.  Champlain  and  La  Salle,  77.  The  Dol- 
lar Sign,  80. 

CHAPTER  III 

^HE  Missionary — Br^beuf 

The  Attitude  of  the  Roman  Catholic  towards  Missions,  82.  The 
Attitude  of  the  Calvinist  towards  Missions,  83.  St.  Francis 
Xavier,  87.     Biard  and  Masse  at  Port  Royal,  88.     The 


vi  Contents 

R6collets  among  the  Hurons,  90.  The  Jesuits  among  the 
Hurons,  91.  Br^beuf's  Personality,  92.  Br^beuf  and 
Jogues,  93.  The  Jesuit  Relations,  96.  Brebeuf  as  a  Writer, 
98.  The  Destruction  of  the  Hurons,  loi.  The  Heroism, 
of  the  Jesuits,  104.  The  Founding  of  Montreal,  105.  Olier 
and  Dauversi^re,  107,  Maisonneuve,  109.  The  Sulpicians. 
no. 

CHAPTER  IV 

^E  Colonist — Hebert 

Recent  French  Books  on  Canada,  114.  The  Tenacity  of  the 
French  Colonist,  116.  Colonists  and  Convicts,  117.  The 
Monopoly  of  the  Fur  Trade,  119.  Louis  Hubert  in  Acadia, 
121.  Hebert  at  Quebec,  124.  Hubert's  Difficulties  and 
Success,  125.  Richelieu  and  the  Hundred  Associates,  132. 
The  Exclusion  of  the  Huguenots,  134.  The  Seigniorial 
Regime,  137.  The  Colonising  Seigneur — Robert  Gififard, 
139.  The  censitaire  and  his  Obligations.  142.  The  Sub- 
division of  a  Seigniory,  146.  The  Carignan  Regiment,  147. 
The  Growth  of  Population,  149.     The  coureur  de  bois,  151. 

CHAPTER  V 

TftE  Soldier — D'Iberville 

Military  Virtues  of  the  French  Canadian,  154.  The  Prestige  of 
French  Arms  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,  155.  Maison- 
neuve and  the  Iroquois,  156.  Dollard  at  the  Long  Sault, 
159.  The  Courage  of  the  Colonist,  166.  Early  Conflicts 
of  the  English  and  French  in  America,  168.  The  Mission 
of  Druillettes,  170.  Dongan  and  Denonville,  172.  King 
William's  War,  174.  Frontenac's  Raids  against  the  Eng- 
lish, 175.     Francois  Hertel,  178.     The  Exploits  of  D'Iber- 


ville, 179. 


\ 


CHAPTER  VI 

HE    CoUREUR    DE    BoiS — Du    LhUT 


Bad  Reputation  of  the  coureur  de  bois,  185.  Testimony  of  L: 
Hontan  and  Carheil,  187.  Profits  of  the  Fur  Trade,  i8g'. 
The  Government  and  the  Private  Trader,  191.  The  ii)x- 
citement  of  Forest  Life,  194.     The  Beaver,  195.     Court- i^, 


Contents  vii 

de  bois  and  Explorers,  196.  Groseilliers  and  Radisson,  198. 
Their  Early  Life,  199.  Expeditions  of  1658-1663,  203. 
The  Founding  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  207.  Radis- 
son and  Colbert,  208.  Radisson  at  Hudson's  Bay  in  1684, 
209.  The  Early  Life  of  Du  Lhut,  210.  Frontenac  and  the 
Fur  Traders,  212.  Du  Lhut's  First  Experiences  in  the 
West,  213.  Du  Lhut  and  La  Salle,  215.  Du  Lhut's  Treat- 
ment of  the  Indians,  217.  Du  Lhut  and  Hennepin,  218. 
The  Case  of  Folle  Avoine,  225.     Nicolas  Perrot,  228. 

CHAPTER  VII 

~"^HE  Intendant — Talon 

The  Importance  of  Talon,  230.  Chapais  on  Talon,  231.  Talon's 
Early  Life,  233.  The  Office  of  Intendant  in  France,  236. 
Talon's  Duties  in  Canada,  239.  The  Question  of  Popula- 
tion, 240.  The  -filles  du  roi,  245.  Talon's  Zeal  for  his  Work, 
246.  The  Development  of  Agriculture,  247.  The  Birth  of 
Manufactures,  249.  Shipbuilding,  250.  The  Brewery,  250. 
The  Miscellaneous  Activities  of  Talon,  252.  Talon  and 
the  Sovereign  Council,  253.  The  Intendant  as  a  Symbol 
of  the  Old  Regime,  256. 

CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Bishop — Laval 

French  Canada  and  the  Roman  Church,  260.  Difference  be- 
tween the  Religious  Evolution  of  New  France  and  New 
England,  261.  Missionaries  and  Parish  Priests,  263.  Piety 
of  the  Early  Canadians,  265.  Strifes  of  the  Canadian 
Church,  270,  The  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  372.  The  Crea- 
tion of  the  Bishopric,  272.  Queylus  and  Laval,  273. 
Laval's  Character,  275.  Church  and  State  at  Quebec.  280. 
The  cure,  281.  The  Two  Seminaries,  283.  The  Movable 
cure,  286.     The  Canadian  Church  and  Education,  287. 

CHAPTER   IX 

THE  Governor — Frontenac 

Frontenac's  Pre-eminence  as  Governor,  291.  His  Early  Career, 
293.  The  Comtesse  de  Frontenac,  294.  The  Contradictory 
Qualities  of  Frontenac,  295.     Frontenac  and  the  Iroquois 


viii  Contents 

at  Cataraqtii,  297.  Frontenac  at  Quebec,  300.  Frontenac 
and  Duchesneau,  305.  La  Barre,  309.  Denonville,  310. 
Frontenac's  Return  to  Canada,  310.  His  War  against  the 
English,  jii.  The  Repulse  of  Phips,  311.  The  entente 
cordiale,  315.  French  and  English  in  Canada,  315.  The 
Results  of  the  English  Conquest,  317. 

CHAPTER  X  ^ 

TheWoman 

Contrast  between  the  Women  of  France  and  Canada  in  the 
Seventeenth  Century,  322.  Poverty  of  New  France,  323. 
Peter  Kalm's  Account  of  Canadian  Women,  324.  The 
Wife  and  the  Nun,  330,  The  Wife:  Dearth  of  Biographical 
Detail,  330.  Social  Antecedents,  331.  Filles  du  rot,  332. 
Dowries,  336.  Life  of  the  habitant's  Wife,  336.  Demou 
selles,  337.  Madeleine  de  Verch^res,  338.  The  Nun: 
Wealth  of  Records,  343.  Paucity  of  Women  in  Early 
Days  of  the  Colony,  345.  Le  Jeune's  Appeal  to  Pious 
Ladies  in  France,  346.  The  Duchesse  d'Aiguillon  and  the 
Hospital  at  Quebec,  347.  Madame  de  la  Peltrie  and  the 
Ursulines,  349.  Marie  de  I'lncamation,  350.  The  Influence 
of  the  Ursulines  on  Canadian  Life,  352.  Jeanne  Mance  and 
the  Hospital  at  Montreal,  353.  Marguerite  Bourgeoys  and 
the  Nvms  of  the  Congregation,  355. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Frontispiece 

.     24 


Champagne.) 


The  Rock  of  Quebec,  1759 

Chateau  de  Ramezay 

Cardinal  Richelieu 

(From  the  Portrait  by  Philippe  de 

Colbert     .... 

Champlain 

Champlain's  Habitation 

(From  Champlain's  Voyages,  Ed.  1613,  by  the  courtesy  of 
the  New  York  Public  Library,  Lenox,  Astor,  and  Tilden 
Foundations.) 

Champlain's  First  Fight  with  the  Iroquois 

(From  Champlain's  Voyages,  Ed.  1613,  by  the  courtesy  of 
the  New  York  Public  Library,  Lenox,  Astor,  and  Tilden 
Foundations.) 

La  Salle  ........ 

The  Martyrdom  op  the  Canadian  Jesuits 

(From  Du  Creux's  Historia  Canadensis,  Paris,  1664.) 

Olier       ......... 

D'Iberville      ........ 

Frontispiece  to  Hennepin's  Voyages 

Talon      ......... 

Laval       .         .         .         .         .         .         •         • 

Marie  de  l'Incarnation    ...... 

Marguerite  Bourgeoys 

ix 


30 

35 
60 
68 


73 


76 
102 

107 
180 
224 
233 
275 
350 
356 


''i''''*T^c  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

novelties  of  earth  and  sky,  the  humblest  atten- 
dant of  Champlain  or  La  Salle  felt  himself  a  dis- 
coverer. Birds,  flowers,  trees,  and  animals,  all 
seemed  of  a  different  world.  For  the  ear  there 
were  the  groan  of  the  frozen  lake  in  winter  and 
the  thunder  of  Niagara.  For  the  eye  there  were 
the  glorious  ranges  of  the  Adirondacks  as  they 
stand  disclosed  by  the  morning  sun  from  the 
waves  of  Lake  Champlain,  the  birch-fringed  rapids 
of  the  Riviere  des  Prairies,  and  the  inland  oceans 
of  the  West.  Any  one  of  us  who  from  a  crest  of 
the  Laurentians  has  seen  the  sun  go  down  in  crim- 
son and  gold  over  an  unbroken  landscape  of  lake 
and  forest,  will  realise  what  a  splendid  setting  the 
wilderness  makes  for  the  life  of  Canada  in  its 
infancy. 

But  this  is  simply  the  background  we  get  in 
gazing  westward  from  the  foot  of  Cape  Diamond. 
And  with  it  one  cannot  contrive  to  connect 
much  historical  interest  before  the  coming  of 
Jacques  Cartier.  American  archaeology  is  an 
exciting  pastime  to  the  devotee,  and  it  would 
be  ungrateful  to  deny  the  value  of  the  results 
attained  by  those  who  have  laboured  among  the 
dim  beginnings  of  the  Iroquois  and  the  Algon- 
quins.  Yet  where  so  much  is  conjecture,  and  so 
much  barbarism;  where  so  little  is  illuminated 
by  personal  achievement  and  where  nothing  can 
be  linked  with  lofty  literature,  it  becomes  difficult 
to  quicken  the  modern  imagination  by  prehistoric 
peeps  of  aboriginal  hatred  and  strife.  Milton  saw 
in  the  history  of  Heptarchic  England  nothing 
but   a  war  of  kites   and   crows — a  narrowness  of 


le  Historical  Background  of  New  France      3 

vision  which  speaks  ill  for  his  knowledge  at  this 
point.  More  excuse,  however,  could  be  found  for 
one  who  called  the  annals  of  Iroquois  and  Algon- 
quins  a  thing  of  kites  and  crows  down  to  the  time 
when  Cartier  cast  anchor  at  the  mouth  of  the 
St.  Charles.  To  those  rightly  instructed  no  bit 
of  human  experience  can  be  without  value,  but 
looking  forth  from  Stadacona  the  historical  back- 
ground must  be  sought  to  the  East  rather  than 
the  West. 

Horace  warns  the  young  poet  not  to  begin  his 
epic  on  the  Trojan  War  with  the  loves  of  Jove 
and  Leda.  The  historian  Ukewise  may  take  profit 
by  this  counsel,  for  nothing  can  be  made  more 
tedious  than  a  prolix  tale  of  origins.  At  the  same 
time  history  when  written  without  some  sense 
of  perspective  becomes  a  mere  catalogue  of  events 
in  which  great  and  little  are  jumbled  together, 
heedless  of  weight  or  quaUty.  How  it  should  be 
written,  and  whether  it  is  a  science,  or  an  art, 
or  a  fable,  are  questions  over  which  ink  continues 
to  be  shed  without  remorse.  Into  such  high  mat- 
ters it  is  impossible  to  enter  here,  but  let  us  assume 
that  if  history  means  more  than  a  village  tale, 
we  must  have  standards  of  comparison  whereby 
to  estimate  the  nature  and  significance  of  events. 
One  type  of  historian  always  finds  readers — the 
good  raconteur.  However  the  taste  of  mankind 
may  change  from  age  to  age,  Herodotus  will  never 
lack  his  audience,  because  he  is  entertaining  and 
can  tell  a  plain  tale  without  making  it  seem  bald. 
For  the  rest,  we  live  in  a  generation  which  demands 
reasons,  craves  to  know  the  causes  of  things,  and 


4     The  Historical  Background  of  New  Fr 

will  not  be  put  off  with  rhetoric  however  glib, 
or  rhapsody  however  eloquent.  If  we  are  to 
comply  with  the  demand  of  the  comparative 
method  in  historical  research,  we  shall  not  rest 
content  when  we  have  finished  Champlain's  Voy- 
ages, or  the  Relations  des  Jdsuites,  or  DoUier  de 
Casson's  Histoire  du  Montrt^al.  Even  after  these 
texts,  and  more  like  them,  have  been  mastered, 
it  remains  to  see  how  the  life  of  the  French  in  Can- 
ada stands  related  to  that  of  France,  the  mother 
land,  and  to  that,  also,  of  the  English  in  America, 
whose  contrasted  ideals  and  methods  are  no  less 
instructive  than  the  ideals  and  methods  which 
were  brought  to  the  St.  Lawrence  from  the  Seine. 

Let  us  now  try  to  translate  into  definite  terms 
what  is  meant  by  this  phrase,  ' '  The  Historical 
Background  of  New  France." 

In  1534  one  finds  a  French  sea-captain  entering 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  at  intervals  during 
the  next  seventy-three  years  ships  from  St.  Malo, 
Brouage,  and  Honfleur,  sail  up  the  great  stream 
even  to  the  foot  of  the  Lachine  Rapids.  Connected 
with  this  broad  fact  is  a  corresponding  question, 
*  *  What  general  impulse,  if  any,  prompted  the 
voyages  of  trade  and  exploration,  which  from 
the  time  of  Cartier  brought  French  seamen  to 
Gaspe  Basin  and  Tadoussac,  to  Stadacona  and 
Hochelaga?" 

In  1608  a  colony  is  planted  by  Champlain 
on  Cape  Diamond,  and  there  follows  an  attempt, 
more  or  less  resolute,  to  build  up  a  French  com- 
munity in  the  land  of  the  Algonquin  and  the  beaver. 
Again  it  may  be  asked,  '  *  What  were  the  resources 


Historical  Background  of  New  France     5 

._  cxic  state  whose  more  adventurous  sons  found 
their  way  to  a  region  so  remote  from  the  land  of 
their  birth?  Did  France  enter  upon  a  colonial 
career  with  any  reasonable  hope  of  success,  or 
was  her  attempt  to  build  up  a  dominion  over 
seas  foredoomed  to  failure?" 

One  stage  further.  These  emigrants  who  dot 
their  hamlets  along  the  shores  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
from  Quebec  to  Montreal  are  not  self-governing. 
They  live  in  strict  dependence  on  a  king  from 
whose  court  at  Fontainebleau  or  Versailles  pro- 
ceed orders  which  become  for  the  colony  its  fun- 
damental law,  neither  to  be  resisted  nor  tampered 
with.  And  in  its  turn  this  fact  raises  a  query 
regarding  the  power  possessed  at  home  by  a  sov- 
ereign whose  will  is  omnipotent  at  the  distance 
of  a  thousand  leagues. 

To  take  yet  another  example.  Seven  years 
after  the  founding  of  the  colony,  Champlain  brings 
Recollets  to  Quebec,  and  ten  years  later  still, 
the  Jesuits.  In  1642,  Olier,  working  through 
Maisonneuve  and  Mile.  Mance,  estabUshes  the 
religious  settlement  of  Montreal.  Then  a  little 
later  a  bishopric  is  created,  and  Canada  finds  its 
place  within  the  hierarchical  system  of  the  Roman 
CathoUc  Church.  Need  it  be  pointed  out  that 
each  of  these  matters  takes  us  at  once  to  some 
phase  of  European  life  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury; either  to  the  missionary  efforts  of  the  relig- 
ious orders,  or  to  the  marvellous  vitaUty  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  or  to  the  pietism  which  gave 
birth  to  the  Sulpicians,  or  to  the  battle  royal  be- 
tween  Gallican   and   Ultramontane?      Illustrations 


6     The  Historical  Background  of  New  Fran 

might  be  multiplied  without  end,  but  the  few  cases 
just  cited  will  show  how  constantly  events  which 
occur  in  New  France  carry  us  back  for  their  inter- 
pretation to  the  European  home.  If  a  further 
example  be  needed,  consider  how  much  of  ancient 
history  is  represented  by  RicheUeu's  refusal  to 
let  Huguenots  pass  the  winter  in  Canada! 

It  is  to  the  development  of  certain  affiliations 
among  those  just  mentioned,  and  of  others  similar 
in  character,  that  -we  shall  address  ourselves  in 
the  present  study.  From  the  nature  of  time  and 
space  the  illustrations  chosen  must  be  partial  and 
fragmentary.  But  at  least  we  shall  be  able  to 
make  out  some  striking  features  both  of  similarity 
an'^  contrast,  as  we  place  the  colony  side  by  side 
with  the  parent  state.  To  divorce  any  chapter 
of  colonial  Ufe  in  America  from  its  European 
antecedents  is  to  curtail  its  interest  and  signifi- 
cance by  at  least  one  half.  Upon  Spaniard,  French- 
man, and  Englishman  alike,  the  New  World  lays 
its  touch,  modifying  and  at  times  almost  seeming 
to  transform.  None  the  less  America  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  Europe  as  Europe  is  not  the  daughter  of 
Asia. 

Let  us  begin,  then,  with  those  distant  days 
when  the  French  first  came  to  the  St.  Lawrence; 
and,  furthermore,  let  us  assume  that  it  is  worth 
our  while  to  connect  through  historical  associa- 
tions two  continents  which  nature  has  sundered 
by  the  breadth  and  storms  of  the  Atlantic.  Hav- 
ing gone  thus  far  it  only  remains  to  limit  or  extend 
the  scope  of  the  inquiry.  Shall  we  make  France 
the  historical  background  of  New  France  to  the 


1  ne  Historical  Background  of  New  France     7 

ex7lusion  of  every  other  country,  and  indeed  of 
Europe  at  large,  or  shall  we  discuss  the  subject 
from  a  standpoint  broadly  European?  That  France 
alone  would  furnish  us  with  a  far  richer  wealth  of 
material  than  could  be  used,  is  evident;  and  per- 
haps it  would  be  safer  to  confine  our  survey  to 
the  relations  of  Canada  with  this  one  state.  But 
just  as  the  history  of  the  colony  relies  for  its  inter- 
pretation on  the  ideals  and  institutions  of  the 
mother  land,  so  these  point  to  forces  which  were 
shaping  the  life  of  Europe  at  large  in  the  era  of 
discovery  and  colonisation.  It  is  an  old  story,  yet 
one  cannot  avoid  taking  for  his  point  of  departure 
the  glories  and  enthusiasms  of  the  Renaissance. 

At  the  date  when  Columbus  set  sail  from  ti>e^ 
port  of  Palos,  Europe  had  reached  an  interesting, 
not  to  say  exciting,  stage  in  its  development. 
It  was  fast  altering  its  point  of  view  towards  some 
of  the  gravest  subjects  which  can  occupy  the  atten- 
tion of  man.  For  a  thousand  years  prior  to  1400, 
the  progress  of  knowledge  had  been  retarded 
by  certain  fixed  ideas.  One  of  these  was  that 
secular  or  profane  learning,  if  not  positively  harm- 
ful, is  useless  in  comparison  with  theology,  whose 
aim  it  is  to  know  and  glorify  God.  According 
to  a  view  now  held  by  many,  God  may  be  glorified 
through  the  careful  study  of  His  works.  But 
such  a  conception  was  not  grasped  during  the 
Middle  Ages.  Sacred  and  secular  were  then 
marked  off  from  each  other  in  a  way  that  killed 
science.  Roger  Bacon,  the  ablest  of  mediaeval 
investigators,  was  imprisoned  for  ten  years  as  a 
dangerous  character. 


8      The  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

A  century  before  Columbus,  began  the  great 
intellectual  awakening  which  we  associate  with 
the  word  Renaissance.  The  first  feature  of  this 
movement  was  a  return  to  the  classics  of  Greece 
and  Rome.  From  the  writings  of  pagan  poets 
and  pagan  philosophers  it  was  discovered  that 
man  had  once  looked  upon  nature  with  eyes  open 
to  all  impressions;  that  he  had  found  no  sin  in 
knowledge;  that  he  had  not  shrunk  from  human 
joy  because  he  feared  to  lose  salvation  by  loving 
too  much  the  activities  of  the  present  life.  The 
earliest  of  those  who  rediscovered  the  world  as 
the  Greeks  had  known  it,  were  the  Italians;  and 
from  their  enthusiasm  sprang  modern  scholarship 
and  modern  art.  What  the  revival  of  learning, 
the  study  of  classical  masterpieces,  meant  to 
Italy,  may  be  seen  from  a  select  list  of  names. 
Petrarch,  Boccaccio,  Donatello,  Brunelleschi,  Leo- 
nardo, Michel  Angelo,  Titian,  Ariosto,  and  Machia- 
velli  are  but  a  few  outstanding  figures  among  the 
writers  and  artists  of  the  Italian  Renaissance. 
In  the  field  of  westward  exploration  an  undis- 
puted primacy  belongs  to  the  same  nation.  Co- 
lumbus, John  Cabot,  Amerigo  Vespucci,  and  Ver- 
razano  were  all  Italians.  I 

But  the  Renaissance  was  an  intellectual  impulse 
which  quickened  every  part  of  Europe,  producing 
in  Germany,  Reuchlin;  in  Holland,  Erasmus;  in 
France,  Montaigne,  Rabelais,  and  Descartes;  in 
Spain,  Cervantes;  in  England,  Spenser,  Shak- 
spere,  and  Francis  Bacon.  Two  years  after  Colum- 
bus set  out  on  his  first  voyage,  Charles  VIII.  of 
France   entered   upon   his   memorable   invasion   of 


The  Historical  Background  of  New  France     9 

Italy.  The  same  expedition  which  raised  Savo- 
narola to  the  height  of  fame  at  Florence  was  a 
means  of  spreading  broadcast  through  northern 
Europe  the  ideas  and  the  culture  which  had  made 
the  Italians  the  most  refined  nation  in  Christen- 
dom. The  effect  was  immediate  and  profound. 
Aglow  with  a  new  love  of  learning,  emancipated 
from  the  idea  that  secular  knowledge  is  dan- 
gerous, Germany,  England,  and  France  gave  them- 
selves over  to  a  full  and  free  use  of  human  faculty. 
The  study  of  Greek  had  enlarged  the  European 
mind  by  accentuating  the  value  and  dignity  of 
life  upon  this  planet.  Columbus  had  expanded 
the  intellectual  horizon  still  further,  by  discover- 
ing the  New  World.  Northern  Europe  made  its 
contribution  to  the  general  enlargement  of  out- 
look by  the  astronomical  discoveries  of  Coper- 
nicus. The  Ptolemaic  system  had  declared  the 
earth  to  be  the  centre  of  the  universe.  Coperni- 
cus, a  true  son  of  the  Renaissance,  taught  the 
plurality  of  worlds  and  the  insignificance  of  our 
own  sphere  in  relation  to  the  starry  heavens. 

All  these  ideas,  then,  were  surging  in  the  mind 
of  Europe  during  the  generation  which  followed 
Columbus.  Between  them,  the  Genoese  naviga- 
tor and  the  Polish  astronomer  gave  mankind  a 
new  heaven  and  a  new  earth.  To  see  what  the 
Renaissance  did  in  another  direction  one  need 
only  compare  the  plays  of  Shakspere  with  the 
Divine  Comedy  of  Dante — the  humanism  of  the 
one  with  the  other- worldliness  of  the  other.  New 
Spain,  New^  France,  New  England — these  European 
outposts  beyond  the  Atlantic — first  came  in  view 


10  The  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

when  Hterature,  art,  and  science  were  being 
transformed  by  a  fresh,  overmastering  idea,  the 
idea  that  knowledge  is  power. 

The  age  of  the  Renaissance  in  northern  Europe 
is  also  the  age  of  the  Reformation.  At  the  date 
of  Columbus's  first  voyage,  Luther  was  nine  years 
old,  and  Calvin  published  his  Institutio  just  at  the 
moment  when  Jacques  Cartier  entered  the  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence.  There  is  no  larger  fact  in  the 
historical  background  of  New  France  and  New 
England  than  that  both  were  founded  amidst  the 
burning  strifes  of  Catholic  and  Protestant.  For- 
tunately we  have  no  personal  knowledge  of  such 
rancours  as  were  kindled  by  the  theological  debates 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  Between  1560  and  1570 
France  went  through  three  wars  of  religion.  "In 
the  first,"  says  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  "we  fought 
like  angels,  in  the  second  like  men,  in  the  third 
like  devils."  If  they  fought  like  devils  before 
1570  it  may  be  imagined  how  they  fought  fifteen 
years  later  during  the  wars  of  the  League,  when 
the  ambitions  of  the  Three  Henries  were  turning 
the  richest  portions  of  France  into  a  desert.  Were 
there  need,  page  after  page  could  be  quoted  from 
Brantome,  L'Estoile,  and  a  host  of  other  memoir 
writers  to  show  how  the  realm  was  lacerated  by 
religious  hate  in  the  boyhood  of  Samuel  de  Cham- 
plain.  The  blame  for  murder  and  violence  is  to 
be  shared  pretty  evenly  by  both  parties.  L'Estoile 
who  was  among  the  few  fair-minded  observers 
of  the  period  says:  "The  vices  and  disorders 
were  as  great  on  one  side  as  the  other."  And 
L'Estoile' s   most   recent   editor  observes:    "Cat ho- 


The  Historical  Background  of  New  France    1 1 

lies  and  Protestants  marauded,  ravaged,  sacked, 
burned,  with  the  same  barbarism.  By  both  parties 
the  poor  were  pillaged  and  the  people  devoured,  for 
if  on  one  side  there  were  many  robbers,  there  was 
no  lack  of  brigands  on  the  other." 

It  would  be  unfair  to  dwell  alone  upon  the 
hatreds  that  were  begotten  by  the  religious  agi- 
tation of  the  sixteenth  century.  In  many  cases, 
indeed,  religious  motives  were  advanced  as  an 
excuse  by  those  who  sought  a  cloak  for  schemes 
of  selfish  ambition.  Catholics,  Lutherans,  and  Cal- 
vinists  all  suffered  from  the  presence  in  their 
midst  of  the  turbulent  and  godless  noble.  But 
the  heroism  prompted  by  real  belief  is  to  be  seen 
in  every  one  of  these  three  great  camps,  shedding 
lustre  upon  a  strife  which  without  it  would  be 
a  ghastly  tale  of  carnage.  Theological  interests 
permeated  every  class  of  society.  Merchants  dis- 
cussed grace  and  good  works  over  the  dinner  table, 
Freebooters  said  prayers,  and  even  Benvenuto 
Cellini  sometimes  thought  of  his  eternal  welfare. 
Never  have  the  contrasts  been  more  violent  among 
men  united  under  the  same  banner.  On  the  Prot- 
estant side  one  finds  the  reformer  who  will  gladly 
endure  martyrdom  for  a  dogma,  in  company  with 
the  prince  whose  chief  wish  is  to  plunder  the  mon- 
astic lands.  On  the  Catholic  side  the  Jesuit  mis- 
sionary, heedless  of  his  life,  supports  the  same 
cause  with  the  noble  who  will  sell  the  Uberties  of 
his  country  for  Spanish  gold.  The  pity  of  it  is 
to  see  the  most  sinful  rancours  masquerading 
under  a  rehgious  name,  for  as  Stubbs  has  pointed 
out,  ' '  No  truth  is  more  certain  than  this,  that  the 


1 2  The  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

real  motives  of  religious  action  do  not  work  on 
men  in  masses;  and  that  the  enthusiasm  which 
creates  Crusaders,  Inquisitors,  Hussites,  Puritans, 
is  not  the  result  of  conviction,  but  of  passion  pro- 
voked by  oppression  or  resistance,  maintained 
by  self-will,  or  stimulated  by  the  mere  desire  of 
victory." 

Now  the  age  of  the  Reformation  was  the  age 
of  discovery  and  colonisation.  Cortez  and  Pi- 
zarro  were  the  contemporaries  of  Luther  and  Cal- 
vin. Plymouth  was  founded  just  after  the  Thirty 
Years'  War  began,  and  Montreal  was  founded 
some  time  before  the  same  struggle  closed.  Take 
the  period  of  the  Reformation  as  extending  from 
Luther's  Wittenberg  Theses  in  15 17,  to  the  Revoca- 
tion of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  in  1685.  If  these  dates 
are  applied  to  the  history  of  New  France,  it  will 
be  seen  that  they  cover  everything  from  Cartier's 
first  voyage,  to  the  time  of  Frontenac.  In  other 
words  Canada  was  discovered,  explored,  and  col- 
onised just  when  the  main  interest  of  the  European 
world  centred  in  matters  of  religious  controversy. 
This  is  a  fact  which  looms  large  in  the  historical 
background  of  New  France. 

But  Canada  was  not  alone  among  European 
colonies  in  being  affected  by  the  Reformation  and 
the  issues  it  had  raised.  Whether  Spanish,  Eng- 
lish, or  French,  every  part  of  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board, from  Florida  to  Quebec,  was  influenced 
in  its  development  by  the  religious  discords  of 
Europe.  Ribaut,  who  strove  to  establish  a  col- 
ony of  French  Protestants  in  Florida,  was  set 
upon    by    the    Spaniards,   under    Menendez,    and 


The  Historical  Background  of  New  France   1 3 

destroyed  with  nearly  his  whole  band.  Doubt- 
less the  Spaniards  desired  to  be  rid  of  interlop- 
ers, but  the  reason  assigned  for  the  massacre 
of  the  French  in  Florida  was  that  they  were 
heretics.  English  readers  are  apt  to  dwell  most 
upon  Spanish  cruelty  and  lack  of  scruple,  but 
Sir  Francis  Drake  always  felt  entitled  to  board 
a  Spanish  treasure  ship,  whether  England  was 
at  war  with  Spain  or  not.  Here  again  the  sense 
of  religious  animosity  inflamed  national  ambitions. 
Farther  north  it  was  the  same.  The  French  ex- 
cluded Protestants  from  Canada.  The  Puritans 
of  Massachusetts  forbad  the  Jesuits  on  pain  of 
death  to  take  up  residence  in  their  colony. 

But  if  the  hfe  of  the  New  World  reflects  the 
religious  feuds  of  Europe,  it  can  likewise  show 
examples  of  that  true  faith  and  courage  which 
shine  out  in  both  the  Protestant  Revolution  and 
the  Catholic  Revival.  The  colonial  movement  did 
not,  by  any  means,  have  its  sole  root  in  the  desire 
to  find  gold  mines  or  beaver  skins.  The  Indepen- 
dent Congregation  of  Scrooby  in  Nottinghamshire 
left  England  for  Holland  that  it  might  win  free- 
dom of  worship,  and  when  Holland  proved  an 
unsuitable  place  of  residence,  it  took  ship  in  the 
Mayflower  for  Cape  Cod.  Here  undoubtedly  is 
a  case  where  peril  and  privation  were  faced  to 
secure  liberty  of  conscience.  How  much  the  sacri- 
fice entailed  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  of 
those  who  came  in  the  Mayflower  one  half  died 
during  the  first  winter.  The  founding  of  Montreal, 
twenty-two  years  later,  represents  an  impulse  no 
less    sincere    and   heroic.       Villemarie    was    estab- 


14  The  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

lished  by  Olier  and  Dauversiere  as  a  mission 
colony,  whose  members  should  set  aside  all  hope 
of  lucre,  and  give  up  their  whole  lives  to  the  con- 
version of  the  savages.  One  can  see  any  day 
over  the  entrance  of  the  Sulpician  College  in 
Montreal  the  historic  legend,  Hie  evangelizahan- 
tur  Indi — * '  Here  the  Gospel  is  preached  to  the 
Indians" — and  every  man  who  went  forth  from 
Maisonneuve's  stockade  knew  that  he  was  taking 
his  Ufe  in  his  hand.  As  in  Europe  so  in  America, 
the  religious  schism  which  inappropriately  we  style 
the  Reformation  was  a  cause  of  inhuman  cruelty 
and  superhuman  self-sacrifice. 

A  lady  once  said  to  J.  R.  Green  that  she  thought 
the  Renaissance  the  most  delightful  part  of  his- 
tory, only  she  could  never  remember  just  where 
it  came  in.  We  have  already  seen,  however, 
where  the  discovery  of  America  comes  in  with 
reference  to  the  Renaissance,  and  how  the  settle- 
ment of  European  races  in  America  occurred  dur- 
ing the  period  of  the  Reformation.  These  things 
affected  New  France  as  they  affected  all  Euro- 
pean colonies  at  the  time  of  their  infancy,  but  for 
the  special  background  of  Canadian  life  under  the 
Old  Regime,  we  must  turn  to  France  herself. 

The  land  whence  Canada  drew  her  first  colo- 
nists has  had  many  foes  in  the  past,  and  still  finds 
many  critics.  But  De  Tocqueville  went  to  the 
heart  of  the  matter  in  saying  that  France  was  a 
country  which  the  world  might  view  with  aston- 
ishment, or  admiration,  or  hatred,  but  never  with 
indifference.  To  the  French,  nature  has  been  bounti- 
ful as  to  no  other  European  people.     Corn  and  wine 


The  Historical  Background  of  New  France   1 5 

and  oil,  noble  rivers  and  fertile  plains,  the  snows 
of  Mont  Blanc  and  the  blue  of  the  Mediterranean, 
the  forests  of  the  Vosges  and  the  long  seaboard 
of  the  Atlantic — it  is  in  vain  that  one  tries  to 
enumerate  the  resources  of  this  nation  to  which 
has  been  denied  neither  the  fruits  of  the  South  nor 
the  vigour  of  the  North,  neither  the  daring  which 
comes  from  the  ocean  nor  the  wealth  which  comes 
from  the  soil.  At  present  we  see  in  France  a  land 
which  Germany  has  cut  off  from  the  Rhine,  and 
outstripped  in  population.  Mr.  Bodley  decries  her 
politics.  From  the  morning  paper  we  hear  daily 
of  her  ecclesiastical  disturbances.  But  reacting  at 
different  ages  to  different  ideals,  France  has  never 
ceased  to  chain  the  world's  attention  by  cleverness, 
or  heroism,  or  patience.  It  was  France  that  led 
the  Crusades,  and  made  the  University  of  Paris 
the  beacon  of  European  thought,  and  achieved  the 
most  superb  triumphs  of  Gothic  architecture. 
Later  still,  with  changed  aspirations,  it  was  France 
that  mastered  Spain  for  the  political  leadership 
of  Europe,  lorded  it  over  a  disunited  Germany, 
and  dared  to  proclaim  the  reign  of  reason  no  less 
loudly  than  she  had  once  sworn  to  defend  the  faith. 
With  the  Great  Revolution  and  the  bewildering 
crises  of  the  Napoleonic  age,  come  fresh  dreams 
and  hopes,  often  doomed  to  bitter  frustration 
and  sometimes  to  Waterloo  or  Sedan.  Yet  even 
now  those  who  think  that  the  brightest  days  of 
France  are  ended  may  prophesy  too  soon,  for  in 
more  ways  than  one  she  has  often  disappointed 
mankind.  If  Tennyson  disliked  "the  blind  hys- 
terics of  the  Celt"   and   railed  against   "the   red 


1 6  The  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

fool-fury    of    the    Seine,"    Mrs.    Browning    caught 
another  aspect  of  French  purpose  when  she  wrote: 

"And  so,  I  am  strong  to  love  this  noble  France, 
This  poet  of  the  nations,  who  dreams  on 
For  ever,  after  some  ideal  good, 
Some  equal  poise  of  sex,  some  unvowed  love 
Inviolate,  some  spontaneous  brotherhood, 
Some  wealth  that  leaves  none  poor  and  finds  none  tired. 
Some  freedom  of  the  many  that  respects 
The  wisdom  of  the  few.     Heroic  dreams!"* 

In  the  sphere  of  colonial  expansion  the  experi- 
ence of  France  has  been  very  singular.  Here  is 
a  state  which  at  the  time  when  the  chief  colonies 
were  being  founded,  held  a  distinct  primacy  in 
Europe.  By  virtue  of  wealth,  population,  and 
political  unity,  the  French  nation  enjoyed  splen- 
did advantages  when  it  entered  upon  overseas 
competition  with  the  Spaniards,  the  English,  and 
the  Dutch.  Nothing  seemed  to  be  wanting.  For 
centuries  the  mariners  of  Normandy  and  Brittany 
had  been  toilers  of  the  sea,  excelling  in  bold- 
ness and  knowledge  of  their  craft.  It  is  true 
that  one  often  hears  the  Frenchman  called  a 
poor  colonist.  But  when  Canadians  say  this  I 
wonder  what  they  mean.  Obviously  the  first 
merit  of  a  colonist  is  power  to  take  root  and  hold 
his    own,   whether    against    the    aborigines   or    the 

*  During  the  recent  debate  on  Morocco,  M.  Ribot  broke 
out  in  these  words  against  M.  Jaures:  "Non,  ce  n'est  pas 
ainsi  qu'il  faut  parlcr  de  la  France.  Si  nous  avous  des  diffi- 
cult^s  aujourd'hui,  nous  y  ferons  face,  nous  les  envisagerons 
sans  faiblesse,  mais  la  France  reste  ce  qu'elle  ^tait  hier,  une 
grande  personne  dont  il  ne  faut  pas  parler  comme  vous  I'avez 
fait." 


The  Historical  Background  of  New  France    1 7 

forces  of  nature.  If  we  judge  by  this  criterion, 
the  French  in  Canada  are  among  the  best  colonists 
of  whom  we  have  any  record.  Left  with  an  axe 
in  his  hand  amid  the  solitudes  of  a  primeval 
forest,  the  French  settler  knows  what  to  do,  even 
though,  like  Louis  Hebert,  he  is  a  Parisian  apoth- 
ecary. And  as  for  initiative,  where  can  more 
enterprising  explorers  be  found  than  the  whole 
hne  of  those  who  from  Champlain  to  La  Veren- 
diye  lay  bare  the  recesses  of  North  America, 
while  the  English  were  content  to  linger  between 
the  Atlantic  and  the  Alleghanies?  As  was  said 
above,  the  experiences  of  France  in  colonisation 
have  been  exactly  what  one  would  expect  them 
not  to  be.  Starting  out  with  power  and  wealth, 
wdth  a  good  marine  and  a  robust  peasantry,  with 
a  westward  outlook  and  geographical  curiosity, 
the  French  have  nothing  to-day  in  the  Western 
Hemisphere  but  two  barren  islets  off  the  coast  of 
New'foundland;  Guadaloupe  and  Martinique  among 
the  West  Indies;  and  a  foothold  on  the  pestilen- 
tial coast  of  Guiana.  Nor  is  it  enough  to  say  by 
w^ay  of  explanation  that  the  French  emigrant  is 
a  poor  colonist. 

A  few  statistics  and  comparisons  mil  empha- 
sise the  fact  that  France  had  good  reason  to  embark 
with  confidence  upon  a  policy  of  expansion.  Her 
population  in  the  days  of  Louis  XIV.  and  Colbert 
has  been  placed  as  high  as  22,000,000,  and  at  the 
lowest  estimate  could  have  been  little  under 
20,000,000.  The  population  of  England  and  Wales, 
at  the  same  time,  was  not  one  third  of  this  figure. 
The   military   power   of   France   was   even   greater 


1  8  The  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

than  could  be  inferred  from  a  statement  regarding 
the  numbers  of  the  population.  In  summing  up 
his  account  of  the  Roman  army  and  navy,  Gibbon 
concludes:  "The  most  liberal  computation  will 
not  allow  us  to  fix  the  entire  establishment  by 
sea  and  land  at  more  than  450,000  men;  a  mili- 
tary power,  which,  however  formidable  it  may 
seem,  was  equalled  by  a  monarch  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, whose  kingdom  was  confined  within  a  single 
province  of  the  Roman  Empire."  The  monarch 
in  question  is,  of  course,  Louis  XIV.  Translating 
these  figures  into  geographical  terms,  Louis  XIV., 
who  ruled  over  a  region  not  so  large  as  Gaul,  had 
forces  equal  to  those  of  the  Roman  Empire,  which 
extended  from  Scotland  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  and 
from  Morocco  to  the  Caspian. 

We  cannot  attempt  to  follow  in  detail  the 
course  of  French  politics  and  war  during  the 
seventeenth  century.  Every  one  who  has  heard 
of  the  Norman  Conquest  and  the  battle  of  Water- 
loo is  familiar  also  with  the  prestige  which  France 
gained  during  the  era  of  Louis  XIV.  Macaulay 
does  not  go  beyond  the  truth  when  he  says: 
"France,  indeed,  had  at  that  time  an  empire  over 
mankind,  such  as  even  the  Roman  Republic  never 
attained.  For  when  Rome  was  politically  domi- 
nant she  was  in  art  and  letters  the  humble  pupil 
of  Greece.  France  had,  over  the  surrounding  coun- 
tries, at  once  the  ascendency  which  Rome  had 
over  Greece,  and  the  ascendency  which  Greece 
had  over  Rome."  The  illustrations  which  can  be 
brought  forward  to  support  this  statement  are 
endless.     During    the   years   when    Frontenac    up- 


The  Historical  Background  of  New  France   1 9 

held  the  authority  of  Louis  XIV.  in  Canada,  his 
native  land  was  dictating  treaties  on  the  one  hand, 
and  prescribing  rules  of  cookery  on  the  other. 
It  is  said  that  Louis  XIV. 's  cook  killed  himself 
because  the  fish  was  bad.  One  does  not  mean 
that  cooks  all  over  Europe  followed  his  example 
under  like  circumstances.  But  everywhere  there 
was  the  same  disposition  to  follow  French  leader- 
ship in  things  domestic  and  personal,  as  well  as 
in  things  intellectual  and  political.  For  more 
than  a  thousand  years  Latin  had  been  the  tongue 
of  scholarship  and  diplomacy,  but  in  the  days  of 
Louis  XIV.  it  yielded  to  French.  This  is  a  single 
example  taken  from  a  multitude.  Macaulay,  if 
one  may  quote  from  him  once  more,  defines  the 
range  of  French  attainments  by  a  contrast  between 
great  things  and  little.  "  She  had  forced  the  Cas- 
tilian  pride  to  yield  her  the  precedence.  She  had 
summoned  Italian  princes  to  prostrate  themselves 
at  her  footstool.  Her  authority  was  supreme  on 
all  matters  of  good  breeding  from  a  duel  to  a 
minuet.  She  determined  how  a  gentleman's  coat 
must  be  cut,  how  long  his  peruke  must  be,  whether 
his  heels  must  be  high  or  low,  and  whether  the 
lace  on  his  hat  must  be  broad  or  narrow." 

Such,  speaking  broadly,  was  the  European 
position  of  France  during  those  very  years  when 
Colbert  and  Talon  were  pushing  forward  the  work 
of  colonisation,  and  trying  to  build  up  on  the 
banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  a  state  which  should 
keep  the  English  from  becoming  the  dominant 
power  in  North  America.  Towards  the  close  of 
his   reign   Louis  XIV.  fell   upon   evil   times.     He 


20  The  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

was  carried  beyond  all  bounds  by  dynastic  ambi- 
tion. His  attempt  to  wipe  out  the  Pyrenees, 
making  both  France  and  Spain  the  propert}'  of 
the  Bourbons,  was  foolish  and  disastrous.  His 
generals  met  more  than  their  match  in  Marlborough, 
and  any  gains  he  had  to  show  when  the  War  of 
the  Spanish  Succession  was  over  had  been  won 
too  dearly  by  the  blood  and  tears  of  his  people. 
But  this  latter  part  of  the  reign  does  not  come 
within  our  view.  At  the  death  of  Frontenac, 
France  still  held  the  undisputed  primacy  of  conti- 
nental Europe,  and  possessed  resources  which  be- 
longed to  no  other  colonising  power,  not  excepting 
England. 

The  development  of  Canada  under  the  Old 
Regime  was  affected  at  all  points  by  the  personal 
power  of  the  king.  France  had  to  work  out  her 
colonial  system  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  which 
permeated  her  institutions  during  the  seventeenth 
century.  At  home  the  hand  of  the  king  was  visi- 
ble everywhere,  and  so  it  was  in  the  colony.  When 
one  has  been  reading  a  series  of  instructions  sent 
out  by  Colbert  to  Talon  or  Duchesneau,  he  •  feels 
a  sense  of  oppression.  And  when  the  intendant 
gives  orders  to  the  colony,  this  impression  is  deep- 
ened. Everything  is  managed  and  ordered  down 
to  the  last  detail.  Merchants  are  told  that  they 
must  bring  their  invoices  before  the  Council,  and 
take  no  more  profit  than  the  government  allows 
them.  Public  meetings  are  put  under  the  ban, 
and  traders  are  not  even  permitted  to  compare 
notes  regarding  the  state  of  trade.  The  propor- 
tion of  men  to  women  entering  the  colony  is  regu- 


\ 


i 


The  Historical  Background  of  New  France  2 1 

lated  year  by  year.  Nowhere  can  one  turn  with- 
out seeing  Thou  shall ^  or  Thou  shall  not.  Major 
Hume  says  wittily  of  PhiUp  II.:  "He  looked  upon 
himself  as  though  he  were  a  kind  of  junior  partner 
with  Providence."  One  would  need  to  be  a  junior 
partner  with  Providence  to  regulate  wisely  all  the 
matters  which  Colbert,  and  other  ministers  of 
the  crown,  managed  for  New  France. 

Under  the  first  three  Bourbons — Henry  IV., 
Louis  XIII.,  and  Louis  XIV. — France  could  be 
made  to  yield  her  king  everything  she  possessed, 
or  everjrthing,  at  least,  which  the  cleverness  of 
the  government  could  exact  from  a  submissive 
people.  Louis  XIV.  was,  as  he  declared  himself 
to  be,  the  State.  Moreover  it  was  not  a  crude 
despotism,  but  a  reign  of  order  which  received 
the  full  sanction  of  pubUc  opinion.  Both  law 
and  religion  accepted  the  fullest  claims  of  the 
monarch.  On  one  occasion  the  Parlement  of  Paris 
declared  to  the  king  in  person:  "This  company 
sees  in  you  the  Uving  image  of  the  Divine."  Like- 
wise Bossuet,  the  most  eloquent  prelate  of  the 
reign,  says:  "All  the  State  is  summed  up  in  the 
King.  The  wiU  of  the  whole  people  is  enclosed 
in  his."  Thus  Louis  XIV.  was  by  general  consent 
the  owner  of  the  land  and  its  inhabitants.  If  he 
wished  to  tax  he  could  tax  at  wiU,  there  being  no 
hmit  but  that  of  human  endurance. 

The  reason  why  French  kings  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  should  have  possessed  unbounded 
prerogative  must  be  plain  to  all  who  know  the 
origin  of  the  French  nation.  When  the  Capetian 
ruler  of  Paris  was  accepted  as  sovereign  by  the 


2  2  The  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

other  nobles  of  France,  his  own  territories  were 
Hmited  to  a  radius  of  some  fifty  miles  from  his 
capital.  Within  this  small  region  he  was  direct 
feudal  lord.  Outside  it  he  was  only  suzerain,  coping 
with  a  Duke  of  Normandy  or  Brittany,  a  Count 
of  Champagne,  or  Flanders,  or  Aquitaine,  whose 
power  might  be  equal  to  his  own.  While  such 
divisions  as  these  existed,  French  nationality  could 
not  take  form.  The  great  fiefs  were  too  strong; 
the  kingship,  too  weak.  But  important  forces 
fought  for  the  king  against  the  ambition  of  his 
vassals.  All  largeness  of  outlook,  all  love  of  peace, 
implied  the  power  of  the  crown.  The  king's  very 
name  was  a  potent  charm.  As  lion  of  justice, 
as  fountain  of  honour,  he  had  advantages  which 
no  mere  noble  could  possess,  however  able  or 
active.  When  one  adds  to  these  reasons  the 
further  fact  that  the  He  de  France,  centring  in 
Paris,  proved  the  most  vigorous  part  of  the  whole 
land,  the  sources  of  royal  power  in  France  became 
evident.  Step  by  step,  from  Louis  le  Gros  to 
Louis  XL,  the  Capetian  kings  gain  fief  after  fief, 
until  the  headship  of  each  district  is  theirs  by 
personal  right  rather  than  feudal  overlordship. 
The  Reformation  gave  the  aristocracy  its  last 
chance  to  clip  the  king's  wings.  But  when 
the  great  wars  of  religion  ended  with  the  vic- 
tory of  Henry  IV.  and  his  acceptance  of  Catholi-  ! 
cism,  the  sovereign  had  won  a  firm  seat  in  the 
saddle.  From  1600  the  chief  nobles  of  France 
are  no  longer  territorial  princes — coining  their  own 
money  and  hanging  malefactors,  or  enemies,  from 
their  own  gallows.     They  have  sunk  to  the  inferior 


i 


The  Historical  Background  of  New  France   23 

rank  of  courtiers.  When  Versailles  was  built, 
those  who  flocked  to  it  were,  politically  speaking, 
but  captives  in  a  gilded  cage.  The  king  had  con- 
quered the  forces  of  feudalism,  and  through  him 
as  its  rallying-point  the  nation  had  come  into 
being.  The  king,  indeed,  was  the  embodiment  of 
the  national  idea,  and  hence  flowed  his  supremacy. 
By  this  process,  then,  upgrew  the  despotism 
which  conditioned  the  whole  course  of  French 
colonisation,  and,  in  particular,  made  the  politi- 
cal life  of  New  France  what  it  was  from  Champlain 
to  Front enac.  But  we  are  not  without  visible, 
tangible  proof  of  this  royal  greatness,  existing  till 
to-day  in  stone  and  mortar.  Of  all  the  various 
routes  whereby  Canadian  history  can  be  approached, 
none  is  more  delightful,  and  few  are  more  direct, 
than  that  which  leads  past  the  chateaux  of  Tou- 
raine  to  Champlain's  habitation  at  Quebec.  A 
building  is  so  much  easier  of  interpretation  than 
a  written  document.  On  the  banks  of  the  Loire, 
the  Cher,  and  the  Indre,  may  still  be  seen  (and  with 
the  utmost  ease  by  any  tourist)  the  palaces  built 
by  French  kings  in  the  age  when  Jacques  Cartier 
and  Roberval  were  first  exploring  the  St.  Law- 
rence. At  Blois  and  Amboise,  at  Chambord  and 
Chenonceaux  and  Azay-le-Rideau,  certain  facts  are 
proclaimed  by  every  stone  in  the  vast  edifice.  What 
must  have  been  the  might  of  rulers  who  reared 
these  sumptuous  residences  for  their  own  delight, 
or  as  gifts  to  their  favourites!*      In  scale,  in  rich- 

*  Strictly  speaking,  not  all  the  chief  chateatix  of  Touraine 
were  erected  by  the  crown,  but  the  most  important  of  those 
erected  by  subjects  soon  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  king. 


24  The  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

ness,  in  beauty,  northern  Europe  has  elsewhere 
no  such  group  of  chateaux  to  display,  and  even 
at  Venice  the  palaces  of  the  Grand  Canal,  which 
are  much  smaller,  can  hardly  be  considered  more 
extraordinary.  Whether  Francis  I.  was  promoting 
the  welfare  or  happiness  of  the  French  nation  by 
building  a  mansion  like  Chambord,  may  perhaps 
be  questioned;  but  for  us  it  is  convincing  witness 
to  the  power  of  the  French  crown,  the  archi- 
tectural genius  of  the  Renaissance,  and  the  degree 
of  forwardness  which  the  French  had  reached  in 
the  march  of  civilisation.  Not  fortified  strong- 
holds like  Coucy  and  the  Bastille,  not  palaces  hke 
Versailles  and  the  Tuileries  which  seem  to  sug- 
gest the  impossibility  of  war — these  chateaux  of 
Touraine  stand  midway  between  the  era  of  feudal 
warfare  and  the  era  of  industrial  security,  bearing 
in  their  structure  the  signs  of  their  association 
with  both  the  Middle  Ages  and  modern  times. 

So  much  for  the  chateaux  of  the  Loire  consid- 
ered in  themselves.  Then  when  their  vastness, 
and  beauty  and  splendour  have  sunk  into  the 
soul,  turn  suddenly  to  the  Chateau  St.  Louis  as 
it  was  in  its  best  days,  or  to  the  Chateau  de  Rame- 
zay,  as  we  see  it  now.  A  bare  comparison  will 
reveal  the  hopeless  inferiority  of  the  colony  in 
wealth  and  architectural  attainment.  But  to  make 
this  contrast  complete,  we  must  put  side  by  side 
with  it  a  comparison  between  the  best  colonial 
architecture  of  New  England,  New  York,  and  Vir- 
ginia, and  the  contemporary  domestic  architecture 
of  the  Jacobean  or  Georgian  period  in  England. 
The  resources  of  the  English  in  America  do  not 


w 
s 
< 

a 

ID 

< 


The  Historical  Background  of  New  France   25 

enable  them  to  vie  with  the  architecture  of  the 
mother  country,  but  they  come  much  nearer  to 
overtaking  it  than  ever  the  builders  of  New  France 
came  to  rivalling  the  chateaux  on  the  Loire.  The 
best  country  seats  and  town  houses  of  the  English 
in  America  have  considerable  pretensions.  The 
most  ambitious  residences  and  public  buildings  of 
the  Old  Regime  in  Canada  are  pitiful  when  placed 
beside  corresponding  edifices  in  France. 

With  the  absence  of  monumental  building  in 
New  France,  we  must  connect  the  poverty  of  the 
colonial  noblesse.  And  this  in  its  turn  reveals 
another  important  fact.  That  Canada  could  boast 
an  aristocratic  class  in  the  days  of  Talon  and  Fron- 
tenac,  no  one  is  likely  to  forget.  The  modern 
noveUst  is  able  to  give  his  tales  of  New  France  a 
touch  of  the  picturesque  by  sprinkling  them  over 
with  the  names  of  seigneurs,  barons,  and  even 
counts.  Probably  most  of  those  who  read  romances 
about  French  Canada  have  an  exaggerated  impres- 
sion of  the  affluence  and  social  standing  which 
the  seigniorial  landholders  possessed.  One  need 
say  nothing  here  about  their  conspicuous  poverty, 
but  it  does  seem  worth  while  to  point  out  that 
not  a  nobleman  in  the  first  rank  of  wealth  and 
power  at  home  ever  came  to  the  colony  during 
the  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  French  rule.  Bishop 
Laval,  through  his  connection  with  the  Mont- 
morency line,  may  be  called  in  some  sense  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  haute  noblesse,  yet  even  he  was 
far  from  having  the  status  at  court  of  the  famous 
Constable,  Anne  de  Montmorency,  or  of  the  lead- 
ing  Montmorency   nobles    who    flourished    in    the 


26  The  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

seventeenth  century.  Frontenac  came  of  good 
hneage,  but  did  not  belong  to  the  upper  stratum 
of  the  French  aristocracy.  A  few  of  the  great 
nobles  ventured  to  take  a  speculative  risk  in  the 
profits  of  the  fur  trade.  As  for  accepting  admin- 
istrative posts  in  the  colony,  they  would  have 
gone  as  quickly  to  Patagonia. 

Much  light  is  thrown  on  the  habits  of  the  French 
aristocracy  at  this  period  by  an  entertaining  vol- 
ume of  the  Vicomte  Georges  d'Avenel — La  Noblesse 
Fran  false  sous  Richelieu.  In  France,  where  every 
child  of  a  noble  was  a  noble,  the  divisions  of  the 
aristocracy  became  far  more  intricate  than  in  Eng- 
land, where  the  number  of  lords  was  narrowly 
restricted.  In  Lescarbot's  Relation  Dernitre  there 
is  an  impressive  hst  of  princes  and  great  dames 
who  have  consented  to  be  sponsors  for  one 
hundred  and  forty  wretched  Micmacs  converted 
at  Port  Royal  in  1610.  Among  the  notables 
acting  in  this  capacity  are  the  Prince  and  the 
Princesse  de  Conde,  the  Prince  and  the  Prin- 
cesse  de  Conti,  the  Comte  and  the  Comtesse  de 
Soissons,  the  Due  and  the  Duchesse  de  Nevers, 
the  Due  and  the  Duchesse  de  Guise,  the  Duchesse 
de  Longueville,  the  Prince  de  Joinville,  the  Prince 
de  Tingry,  the  Comte  de  Tonnerre,  and  many  others. 
But  having  vouchsafed  to  become  godparents  for 
Indians  whom  they  would  not  have  allowed  within 
their  kitchens,  the  great  nobles  of  France  there- 
upon proceeded  to  leave  Acadia  and  Canada 
severely  alone. 

It  does  not  therefore  follow  that  the  names  of 
the   great   and   powerful   are   wholly   absent    from 


The  Historical  Background  of  New  France  27 

the  annals  of  New  France.  The  Prince  de  Conde 
and  the  Comte  de  Soissons  may  seldom  send  their 
thoughts  to  the  hungry  handful  of  settlers  at 
Quebec,  but  mightier  than  they  at  times  dream 
of  extending  French  power  over  vast  areas  in 
North  America.  Francis  I.  cannot  be  credited 
with  very  persistent  aspirations  in  the  colonial 
sphere,  though  he  gave  Cartier  the  Hermine,  and 
on  one  occasion  ordered  his  treasurer  to  pay  the 
discoverer  of  Hochelaga  fifty  crowns,  in  part  for 
salary  and  in  part  for  the  keep  of  kidnapped  sav- 
ages. Aside  from  Francis  none  of  the  Valois  did 
much  for  westward  exploration,  and  the  last  three 
kings  of  that  line  could  not  have  done  much 
owing  to  the  religious  wars.  With  the  seven- 
teenth century,  however,  we  reach  an  age  when 
the  kings  and  ministers  of  France  begin  to  feel 
a  more  or  less  genuine  concern  for  the  establish- 
ment of  colonies  in  the  Western  Hemisphere.  The 
motive  is  twofold.  Even  more  important  than  to 
get  profit  for  oneself  from  these  new  enterprises, 
is  the  duty  of  preventing  one's  neighbour  from 
getting  any. 

We  meet,  therefore,  in  Canadian  history  with 
the  names  of  Henry  IV.,  Cardinal  RicheUeu,  Louis 
XIV.,  and  Colbert.  As  poUticians,  these  are  the 
four  most  prominent  Frenchmen  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  and  each  has  his  place  in  the  his- 
torical background  of  New  France. 

Port  Royal  and  Quebec  were  both  founded  dur- 
ing the  reign  of  Henry  IV. — the  king  whose  white 
plume  waved  at  the  battle  of  Ivry,  and  whose 
wish  it  was  that  every  peasant  should  have  a  fowl 


28  The  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

in  his  pot  on  Sunday.  Henry  of  Navarre,  the 
first  of  the  Bourbons,  was  the  most  popular  king 
France  had  seen  for  three  centuries.  He  did  not 
lack  certain  personal  weaknesses  which  cropped 
out  again  in  his  grandson  Charles  U.  of  England, 
and  which  every  reader  of  memoirs,  or  of  Dumas, 
must  have  observed.  Yet  for  the  nation  these 
were  counterbalanced  by  intelligence,  patriotism, 
and  generosity.  When  he  came  to  the  throne — 
or  rather  after  he  had  conquered  his  throne — 
he  found  the  government  disorganised  by  thirty 
years  of  civil  war,  and  the  country  in  a  state 
of  extreme  distress.  Henry  IV.  is  thought  by 
many  to  have  been,  in  his  youth  at  least,  a 
great  bulwark  of  the  Protestant  cause.  But 
religion  at  all  times  sat  on  him  very  Ughtly. 
By  temperament  he  was  not  devout,  and  whether 
as  Huguenot  prince  or  Catholic  king,  his  talents 
pointed  to  a  career  of  politics.  Many  dislike  him 
for  having  abjured  the  faith  of  his  childhood.  But 
the  great  fact  which  appealed  to  him  was  this. 
After  a  generation  of  bloodshed,  the  vast  majority 
of  the  French  people  remained  Catholic.  To. make 
them  Protestant  at  the  point  of  the  sword  was 
impossible.  Henry  did  abjure  his  religion  to  secure 
the  crown,  yet  this  act  gained  for  the  Huguenots 
what  they  could  hardly  have  secured  in  any  other 
way.  By  issuing  the  Edict  of  Nantes  he  gave  his 
former  allies  toleration.  And  toleration  was  some- 
thing which  a  heretical  minority  seldom  got  any- 
where in  those  days. 

Henry  IV.,  then,  was  not  a  religious  enthusiast 
or  even  a  moral  hero.     But  he  was  a  clear-sighted 


The  Historical  Background  of  New  France   29 

statesman  with  a  sense  of  pubUc  duty.  What  he 
did  for  France  in  a  reign  of  fifteen  years  is  almost 
incredible.  By  sound  and  honest  government  he 
gave  the  land  a  degree  of  prosperity  which  she 
had  never  had  before,  and  which  no  other  state 
in  Europe  could  parallel.  The  Due  de  Sully,  his 
chief  minister,  was  the  friend  of  agriculture,  the 
staple  industry  of  France  then,  as  now.  The  king 
himself  took  a  deep  interest  in  manufactures,  and 
among  other  activities  created  that  silk  trade 
which  means  so  much  to  Lyons  and  the  valley 
of  the  Rhone  to-day.  Improved  roads,  purified 
courts,  lower  taxes  were  but  a  few  features  of  his 
reforms  at  home.  Abroad,  his  policy  was  not  to 
side  with  Protestants  against  CathoUcs  or  with 
Catholics  against  Protestants,  but  to  oppose  the 
House  of  Hapsburg,  which  held  the  thrones  of 
Austria  and  Spain.  Catholic  king  though  he  was, 
he  felt  himself  to  be  first,  last,  and  always  a  French- 
man, and  king  of  all  the  French.  Like  Richelieu 
after  him,  he  preferred  a  French  Protestant  to  a 
Spanish  Catholic.  His  leagues  with  other  powers 
were  dictated  by  considerations  purely  political, 
and  at  the  moment  when  the  hand  of  an  assassin 
struck  him  down,  he  was  about  to  engage  in  a 
general  European  war  with  the  Protestants  of 
Germany  for  his  allies,  against  the  Catholic  king 
of  Spain. 

While  Henry  IV.  witnessed  the  beginning  of 
French  settlement  in  Canada,  it  was  under  Louis 
XIII.  and  RicheUeu  that  the  colony  first  received 
serious  attention  from  the  crown.  The  face  of  the 
great  Cardinal  no  one  can  forget  who  has  seen  it 


30  The  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

either  in  the  portrait  of  Michel  Lasne  or  of  PhiUppe 
de  Champagne.  The  intellectual  brow,  the  piercing 
eye,  the  firm  mouth,  the  deUcately,  but  strongly 
modelled  chin  are  features  which  go  to  make  up 
a  visage  of  rare  dignity  and  force  even  among  the 
leaders  of  mankind.  For  nearly  twenty  years  at 
a  critical  point  in  her  annals,  France  was  ruled 
by  this  prince  of  the  Church,  this  "man  in  the 
grand  style  if  ever  there  was  one,"  as  Matthew 
Arnold  has  well  said.  Richelieu  had  his  limita- 
tions. In  the  details  of  domestic  administration 
he  was  not  the  equal  of  Sully  or  of  Colbert.  He 
was  a  poor  financier.  He  did  not  see  the  evils 
of  state  paternalism  in  the  world  of  industry. 
But  when  one  has  pointed  out  his  failure  to  organise 
the  routine  of  administration  in  harmony  with 
the  best  business  methods,  the  main  defect  of  his 
genius  has  been  indicated.  Every  great  states- 
man, like  every  great  poet,  is  full  of  imagination. 
Outwardly  he  may  not  be  demonstrative,  but  he 
believes  in  certain  things  and  works  to  accom- 
plish definite  ends,  however  much  he  may  shift 
his  means  under  stress  of  circumstances.  As  for 
Richelieu  he  has  told  us  in  plain  terms  what  he 
sought  to  accomplish.  "My  first  aim,"  he  says, 
"was  the  majesty  of  the  king;  my  second  was 
the  greatness  of  the  kingdom." 

In  extending  the  royal  power  Richelieu  fol- 
lowed the  main  tendency  of  French  politics. 
Prior  to  the  Revolution  of  1789  national  feeling 
found  its  expression  almost  exclusively  through 
support  of  the  king  against  the  dukes,  counts,  and 
barons,  whose  triumph  would  have  split  the  land 


w    2 
^  i 

■  ■  O 


P^ 


< 

5 


The  Historical  Background  of  New  France   3 1 

into  many  fragments  and  left  it  helpless.  For 
France  the  choice  was  one  between  the  despotism 
of  the  crown  and  the  anarchy  which  was  certain 
to  arise  if  the  nobles  proved  stronger  than  the 
crown.  The  Enghsh  expedient  of  keeping  the 
monarchy  strong,  but  Umiting  its  power,  was 
never  followed  in  France.  Only  once  in  the  eight 
hundred  years  between  Hugh  Capet  and  the  Revo- 
lution did  the  people  gain  control  of  the  govern- 
ment, even  for  a  moment.  In  1356  after  King 
John  had  been  captured  by  the  English  at  the 
battle  of  Poitiers,  and  the  whole  realm  was  in  con- 
fusion, the  Commons  or  Third  Estate  did  snatch 
power  for  a  moment.  But  their  leader  Etienne 
Marcel  soon  lost  his  life,  and  the  cause  of  the  peo- 
ple perished.  Richelieu,  when  he  tried  to  make 
the  king  supreme,  was  not  running  athwart  the 
genius  of  the  constitution,  hke  his  contemporary 
Strafford  in  England.  He  was  simply  carrying 
to  their  legitimate  conclusion  principles  which  the 
French  nation  at  large  had  long  since  accepted. 

It  is  under  this  aspect  that  Richelieu's  wars 
against  the  Huguenots  should  be  viewed.  Few 
men  of  his  age  had  the  persecuting  spirit  in  a  less 
degree.  But  as  a  poUtician  he  saw  the  special 
privileges  possessed  by  the  Huguenots  within  their 
cities  of  refuge.  Towns  Hke  La  Rochelle,  Saumur, 
and  Montauban  were  in  his  eye  permanent  centres 
of  intrigue  against  the  king.  The  right  of  the 
Huguenots  to  hold  their  own  special  assembhes, 
modelled  in  form  upon  the  States-General,  was 
distasteful  to  him.  In  short,  Richelieu  when 
fighting  the  Protestants  of  France  regarded  them 


32  The  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

far  less  as  heretics  than  as  enemies  of  national 
union,  and  subjects  who  gave  the  crown  but  a 
divided  allegiance. 

It  was,  however,  in  the  field  of  foreign  affairs 
that  the  Cardinal  found  scope  for  the  exercise  of 
his  highest  and  rarest  talents.  He  was  a  diplo- 
matist, not  by  training  but  by  the  grace  of  God. 
Seeing  with  perfect  clarity  of  vision  the  real  weak- 
ness of  Spain,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  attack  this 
old  rival  whose  armies  and  gold  mines  had  for  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years  been  a  standing  menace 
to  France.  When  Richelieu  first  crossed  the  path 
of  Spain,  the  Spanish  infantry  had  the  reputation 
of  being  the  best  troops  in  Europe.  To  create 
a  force  which  could  meet  them  in  open  fight  and 
beat  them  at  their  own  game  was  a  work  of  great 
daring.  But  the  born  diplomatist  is  brave  as 
well  as  cautious,  and  when  the  Thirty  Years'  War 
was  over,  France,  thanks  to  Richelieu,  had  made 
the  House  of  Hapsburg  in  both  branches  take 
second  place.  The  cost  was  great,  and  the  Cardi- 
nal's ambition  may  not  have  been  the  noblest. 
But  fighting  with  the  weapons  at  his  hand .  and 
according  to  the  methods  of  his  time,  he  won 
Alsace  and  raised  his  country  to  the  rank  of 
premier  power  upon  the  Continent. 

The  relations  of  Richelieu  with  Louis  XHI. 
were  always  singular,  and  often  very  difficult. 
The  Cardinal's  talents  were  such  that  the  king 
could  not  be  blind  to  them,  and  in  the  main  the 
instinct  of  self-preservation  led  him  to  support 
the  minister  whose  deeds  brought  glory  to  the 
reign.     But  though  admiring  Richelieu,  Louis  never 


fjZ/uo  /ll7^^    .(      ^l,i  M^^x^xJJjL 


The  Historical  Background  of  New  France   33 

really  liked  him,  and  several  times  he  listened  to 
those  who  told  him  that  his  chief  servant  was 
a  traitor.  Against  the  Cardinal  were  Marie  de 
Medicis,  the  queen  mother,  Anne  of  Austria,  the 
queen,  Gaston  d'Orieans,  the  king's  brother,  and 
a  host  of  other  notables  including  personal  favour- 
ites hke  Cinq-Mars.  Surrounded  by  plots  and 
spies,  Richelieu  showed  himself  at  home  as  much 
the  superior  of  his  personal  enemies  as  abroad  he 
was  superior  to  the  enemies  of  France. 

Richelieu  was  at  the  noontide  of  his  strength 
and  fame  during  the  last  years  of  Champlain's 
life,  and  the  early  fortunes  of  New  France  are 
bound  up  with  his  general  poUcy  towards  things 
colonial.  The  nature  of  his  views  regarding  French 
expansion  beyond  seas  we  shall  consider  at  a  later 
stage.  For  the  present  it  will  be  enough  to  observe 
that  he  favoured  the  creation  of  large  commercial 
companies,  similar  to  those  which  the  English  and 
Dutch  had  organised  for  exploiting  the  trade  of 
the  Indian  Ocean  and  the  Spice  Islands.  The 
history  of  the  East  India  Company  illustrates 
what  can  be  done  by  a  private  corporation  of 
merchants  working  in  harmony  with  the  national 
government.  And  Richelieu  proposed  to  give  the 
trans-Atlantic  traders  of  France  a  degree  of  sup- 
port which  the  East  India  Company  did  not  re- 
ceive from  the  British  crown  till  the  days  of  CUve 
and  Warren  Hastings.  The  Company  of  One  Hun- 
dred Associates  proved  a  failure,  for  any  project, 
however  good,  can  be  spoiled  by  mismanagement. 
But  Richelieu  was  accepting  a  sound  idea  when 
he    told    the    French    notables    in    1626   that  no 


34  The  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

kingdom  was  so  well  situated  as  France  to 
become  mistress  of  the  sea,  or  so  well  provided 
with  the  necessary  means;  and  that  like  her 
neighbours  she  must  begin  by  building  up  strong 
trading  companies  which  should  receive  direct 
support  from  the  royal  navy. 

At  the  close  of  1642  Richelieu  died,  and  on  the 
death  of  Louis  XIII.,  five  months  later,  the  gov- 
ernment of  France  passed  into  the  hands  of  Car- 
dinal Mazarin.  Thanks  to  a  wealth  of  memoirs, 
few  characters  in  history  are  better  known  than 
this  Italian  prelate  whom  accident  made  the  ruler 
of  France  for  seventeen  years.  As  a  figure  in  the 
historical  background  of  Canada,  Mazarin  is 
chiefly  memorable  for  two  things.  At  home  he 
prevented  the  rebellious  nobles  of  the  Fronde  from 
destroying  all  government  during  the  stormy  boy- 
hood of  Louis  XIV.  And  in  foreign  affairs  he  was 
able,  despite  the  troubled  state  of  France,  to  pre- 
vent his  adoptive  fatherland  from  losing  that 
European  primacy  which  Richelieu  had  won.  For 
the  rest,  we  must  pass  him  by,  nor  can  we  pause 
to  examine  the  role  of  Louis  XIV.  in  building  up 
New  France.  During  the  period  from  1663  to 
1670  he  took  an  active  interest  in  America,  giving 
his  colonial  subjects  more  direct  support  than  they 
had  ever  received  from  Henry  IV.,  or  Richelieu, 
or  Mazarin.  Afterwards  his  zeal  for  colonisation 
flags  proportionately  to  the  growth  of  his  Euro- 
pean ambitions.  And  so  we  must  pass  by  with  a 
single  word  the  king  whose  name  heads  the  longest 
and  the  most  dazzling  chapter  in  the  history  of 
the  Bourbons. 


Colbert 


The  Historical  Background  of  New  France   35 

To  leave  out  Colbert  is  not  so  easy,  for  the 
career  of  this  statesman  is  more  intimately  bound 
up  with  the  colonising  of  Canada  than  that 
of  any  other  minister,  Richelieu  not  excepted. 
At  the  moment  when  Louis  XIV.  took  over  the 
reins  of  government  in  1661,  Colbert  was  quite 
unknown  to  the  majority  of  the  French  people. 
He  was  bom  at  Reims  in  north-eastern  France, 
and  came  from  a  well-to-do,  middle-class  family. 
His  fortune  was  made  on  the  day  when  he  entered 
the  service  of  Mazarin,  who  was  quick  to  see  his 
talent  for  finance  and  all  other  forms  of  business. 
Colbert  is  to  be  thought  of  as  the  soul  of  thorough- 
ness. Nature  endowed  him  with  excellent  judg- 
ment, and  that  "infinite  capacity  for  taking  pains" 
which  is  for  most  politicians  so  much  more  service- 
able than  undisciplined  talent.  He  was  austere 
but  honest,  and  few  Frenchmen  have  equalled  him 
in  genuine  love  of  country.  His  devotion  did  not 
take  a  brilliant,  spectacular  form,  but  without 
him  the  successes  of  Louis  XIV.  in  war  and  peace 
would  have  been  impossible.  When  in  a  mag- 
nificent piece  of  Gobelins  tapestry  one  sees 
Louis  XIV.  at  the  siege  of  Maestricht,  amid  all 
the  pomp  and  panoply  of  war,  surrounded  by 
generals  and  cavaliers  in  the  most  glorious  array, 
one  is  apt  to  forget  Colbert.  But  Colbert  was 
largely  the  cause  of  it  all.  Working  day  and  night 
in  his  office  at  Paris,  it  was  he  whose  intelligence 
arranged  the  scheme  of  taxes,  developed  indus- 
try, promoted  foreign  trade,  and  gave  order  to 
a  vast  web  of  administrative  detail  which  but  for 
him  would  have  been  a  hopeless  tangle.     He  was 


36  The  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

a  man  of  science  applying  clear-sighted  methods 
to  the  management  of  public  affairs.  He  awak- 
ened little  enthusiasm  for  his  ov/n  person.  He  was 
too  frigid,  perhaps  too  preoccupied  with  his  work 
for  the  realm.  But  contrast,  if  you  will,  Colbert 
with  the  great  Conde,  whose  fame  became  univer- 
sal because  he  directed  a  few  daring  cavalry  charges. 
I  dwell  upon  this  contrast  because  men  of  Colbert's 
type  are  in  modern  times  quietly  giving  a  new 
aspect  to  civilisation.  Take,  for  example,  Pasteur. 
"Pasteur,"  says  Henry  Holt,  "shut  up  in  his 
laboratory  until  he  came  out  half-paralysed,  with 
a  greater  boon  for  humanity  than  any  conqueror 
ever  bore,  may  not  yet  thrill  us  as  the  conquerors 
do,  but  he  will."  Likewise  the  steady,  silent  toil 
of  Colbert  in  his  office  enabled  Louis  XIV.  to  pose 
before  Europe  as  the  Sun-king  and  mightiest  of 
mortals. 

We  have  now  glanced  at  crown,  nobles,  and 
ministers,  as  they  stand  related  to  the  origins  of 
French  life  in  Canada.  But  it  remains  to  ask, 
"What  of  the  Church?"  Indeed  this  question 
might  well  seem  to  demand  first  place,  sincie  the 
fortunes  of  the  French-Canadian  race  have  been 
linked  with  Rome  more  continuously,  if  not  more 
closely,  than  with  Paris. 

By  the  French  Church  one  means  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  France,  constituting  a  great 
national  branch  of  the  Latin  communion.  The 
presence  of  the  Huguenots  in  the  realm  did  not, 
for  practical  purposes,  destroy  the  right  of  the 
Roman  Church  in  France  to  be  called  national. 
From  whatever  reason,   whether  force  or  convic- 


The  Historical  Background  of  New  France  37 

tion,  a  vast  majority  had  rejected  the  doctrines 
of  Calvin  and  clung  to  the  Mass.  Paris,  ever  the 
heart  of  the  kingdom,  was  bitterly  opposed  to  the 
Huguenots,  and  though  these  French  Protestants 
have  many  claims  upon  our  sympathy,  they  were 
in  numbers  but  a  remnant.  What  they  might 
have  accomplished  in  the  colonies,  it  is  interesting 
to  conjecture,  for  they  were  nurtured  on  the  same 
beliefs  which  inspired  the  Puritans,  the  Covenant- 
ers, and  the  Dutch.  There  is  more  than  enough 
evidence  to  show  that  they  would  gladly  have 
taken  the  risk  of  expatriation  if  encouraged  by 
the  government,  or  rather  if  not  prevented  by  it. 
Even  despite  the  many  obstacles  which  withstood 
their  desire  to  emigrate,  one  finds  them,  for  brief 
moments,  on  the  coast  of  Florida,  in  Acadia,  and 
at  Quebec. 

The  Romanist  and  the  Huguenot  might  wage 
war  over  points  of  dogma — the  Romanist  of  Paris 
or  Lyons  supporting  the  claims  of  the  Pope  to  the 
headship  of  the  Church.  Yet  though  the  French 
nation  rejected  Protestant  theology,  both  Lutheran 
and  Calvinist,  it  did  not  lose  a  sense  of  its 
independence  in  matters  of  church  government. 
The  faith  of  the  Church  is  one  thing,  its  adminis- 
tration is  another.  France  remained  true  to  the 
Roman  faith,  but  that  the  Pope  should  name 
French  bishops,  or  claim  to  rank  in  authority, 
above  a  General  Council,  was  something  which 
Louis  XIV.  would  not  admit.  Throughout  a  great 
part  of  his  reign  two  ecclesiastical  disputes  went 
on  side  by  side.  Of  these  the  strife  between 
Jesuit   and  Jansenist   had  almost  no  effect  upon 


38  The  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  Canada,  but  with  the 
antagonism  of  Gallican  and  Ultramontane,  it  was 
far  otherwise. 

The  term  Gallicanism  has  associations  which 
might  easily  carry  us  back  to  the  Middle  Ages, 
but  we  cannot  trace  the  stages  of  its  development. 
In  short,  it  implies  a  resolve  on  the  part  of  the 
French  king,  or  the  French  clergy,  or  both,  that  the 
Pope  shall  not  be  supreme  in  the  government  of 
the  French  Church.  At  times  under  this  name 
the  bishops  seek  to  extend  their  powers.  At  other 
times  it  is  the  king  who  thrusts  himself  into  the 
ecclesiastical  sphere  by  claiming  the  right  to 
nominate  bishops  and  abbots,  or  to  take  over  the 
revenue  of  a  vacant  bishopric  or  abbey.  By  the 
Pragmatic  Sanction  of  1438  the  French  bishops 
had  gained  important  concessions  from  King  and 
Pope.  By  the  Concordat  of  15 16  these  privileges 
were  largely  lost.  King  and  Pope  uniting  to  encroach 
upon  the  powers  of  the  bishops.  In  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIV.  the  conflict  became  one  between  King 
and  Pope,  Louis  opposing  in  particular  Pope  Inno- 
cent XL 

This  phase  of  the  controversy  affects  Canada 
during  the  period  of  Talon,  Laval,  and  Frontenac. 
How  to  draw  the  line  between  Church  and  State 
has  been  one  of  the  world's  vexed  questions  for 
nearly  nineteen  centuries.  Ever  since  Christians 
first  heard  the  command  Render  unto  CcBsar, 
attempts  have  been  made  to  fix  a  scientific  fron- 
tier between  the  two  domains.  At  times  the 
Church,  asserting  that  things  spiritual  are  higher 
than    things   temporal,    has   denied   the   State   all 


The  Historical  Background  of  New  France   39 

claim  to  independent  authority.  But  what  had 
been  urged  by  Gregory  VII.  and  Innocent  III.  could 
not  be  supported  in  France  during  the  era  of  Louis 
XIV.  Europe  then  saw  the  Most  Christian  King 
acting  towards  the  Holy  See  in  a  spirit  of  inde- 
pendence which  almost  suggests  Erastianism,  and 
certainly  reflects  the  dislike  so  long  felt  by  the 
French  crown  for  the  decrees  of  Trent.  Thus 
when  Innocent  XI.  denied  the  right  of  the  French 
crONvn  to  appropriate  the  revenues  of  a  vacant  see, 
it  was  the  eloquent  Bossuet  who  stated  these  four 
fundamentals  of  the  GalHcan  Church,  i.  In  things 
temporal  the  civil  authority  is  not  subject  to  the 
ecclesiastical.  2.  The  Council  of  Constance  has 
rightly  decreed  that  a  General  Council  is  superior 
to  the  Pope.  3.  The  Pope's  power  should  be 
exercised  conformably  with  the  usage  of  particu- 
lar churches.  4.  Unless  the  Church  consent,  the 
Pope's  authority  is  not  unalterable  even  in  matters 
of  faith. 

These  words  may  seem  dry  and  technical,  but 
Bossuet  was  referring  to  the  Pope  when  he  said 
in  language  more  highly  coloured:  "Ocean  itself, 
immense  though  it  be,  has  its  Hmits,  and  to  break 
through  at  its  own  caprice  would  be  to  lay  desolate 
the  world." 

Which  party  had  the  right  in  this  contest,  it 
would  be  rash  to  inquire,  unless  one  could  give 
the  subject  a  separate  volume.  The  capital  fact 
for  students  of  Canadian  history  is  that  GaUican- 
ism  finds  a  reflection  in  many  acts  of  Governor 
and  Intendant,  while  no  stronger  champion  of 
Ultramontanism    than    Laval     could     have     been 


4©  The  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

found  at  the  Vatican,  or  within  the  walls  of 
Rome. 

And  here  we  must  pause,  confronted  by  hmita- 
tions  of  space.  It  is  true  that  a  comprehensive 
notice  of  the  contact  between  France  and  New 
France  would  need  to  touch  on  many  other  themes: 
the  main  divisions  of  the  realm  as  they  are 
associated  with  the  emigration;  the  life  and  la- 
bours of  the  peasant;  the  state  of  trade;  the 
condition  of  the  merchant  marine,  and  the  hopes 
of  those  brave  sailors  who  steered  for  the  Great 
Bank  in  crazy  boats  of  a  hundred  tons.  Through 
the  investigation  of  subjects  like  these  we  are  made 
to  feel  the  living,  human  interest  of  a  bygone 
age,  and  to  realise  the  infinite  diversity  of  man's 
achievement.  But  suggestion  rather  than  com- 
pleteness is  the  aim  which  must  be  kept  in  view, 
and  for  a  concluding  touch  we  turn  from  France 
to  New  England. 

Heine,  who  was  not  fond  of  England,  said  that 
it  would  be  an  excellent  place  of  residence  save 
for  two  things,  fog  and  Englishmen.  Similarly, 
the  first  Frenchmen  who  came  to  Canada  may 
have  thought  it  delightful  save  for  frost  and  Iro- 
quois. At  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
however,  the  least  desirable  features  of  life  in  Can- 
ada must  have  seemed  to  be  frost  and  English 
neighbours.  Through  hard  and  keen  rivalry,  the 
English  of  America  deserve  a  place  in  the  histor- 
ical background  of  New  France. 

The  raids  against  Schenectady  and  Deerfield 
give  one  vivid  touch  to  the  relations  of  the  two 
races  in  their  western  homes,  and  when  the  great 


The  Historical  Background  of  New  France  41 

crisis  comes,  it  is  embellished  by  the  names  of 
Carillon  and  Louisbourg.  But  what  points  more 
prophetically  to  the  issue  than  any  narrative  of 
recriminations  is  the  disparity  in  numbers.  At 
the  time  Canada  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
British  crown,  there  were  forty  English  colonists 
in  America  for  every  Frenchman.  What  this  im- 
plies regarding  the  initiative  of  the  two  races,  or 
the  policy  of  the  respective  governments,  is  clear, 
for  no  one  can  pretend  that  the  native  of  Massa- 
chusetts or  Pennsylvania  had  more  children  than 
the  French  Canadian.  When  it  comes  to  a  con- 
trast of  institutions  as  illustrated  by  the  episodes 
of  colonial  history,  the  path  lengthens  out  to  an 
interminable  vista.  For  example,  the  resistance 
of  Massachusetts  to  Sir  Edmund  Andros  is  a 
standard  whereby  to  measure  what  the  French  of 
Canada  did  not  do  in  protesting  against  inter- 
ference with  trade  and  personal  privileges. 

One  must  avoid  the  danger  of  overpraising  the 
English  because  they  multiplied  and  were  suc- 
cessful. They  had  their  characteristic  short-com- 
ings in  sufficient  measure.  Yet  the  factions  of 
Massachusetts  and  Virginia  were  a  healthier  sign 
in  politics  than  the  blighting  paternalism  which 
seemed  to  stifle  so  much  in  New  France  without 
destroying  its  loyalty.  To  be  successful  a  colony 
must  have  its  own  life  and  its  own  ambitions.  A 
system  under  which  private  initiative  is  crushed 
by  government  control  becomes  in  the  end  suici- 
dal. What  the  daring  and  genius  of  the  French 
could  accomplish  may  be  seen  in  America  from 
the  deeds  alike  of  the  explorers,  and  of  the  French- 


42  The  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

Canadian  soldiery.  The  men  and  women  who 
came  to  the  St.  Lawrence  from  Normandy,  and 
Perche,  and  the  He  de  France,  could  brave  every 
hardship  and  face  every  danger.  But  the  power 
of  the  king  and  their  traditions  of  loyalty  kept 
them  from  working  out  their  own  destinies  in  the 
new  home.  We  now  have  a  great  deal  of  illumi- 
nating experience  to  guide  us  in  forming  a  judg- 
ment on  such  matters.  We  know  perfectly  well 
that  a  colony  need  not  be  disloyal  to  the  mother 
land  because  it  has  local  pride  and  ambitions. 
This  Lord  Dufferin  saw  with  perfect  clearness. 
Writing  to  Lord  Carnarvon  in  1874,  he  says:  "If 
then  this  growing  consciousness  of  power  should 
stimulate  the  pride  of  Canadians  in  the  resources 
and  future  of  their  country,  nay,  even  if  it  should 
sometimes  render  them  jealous  of  any  interfer- 
ence on  the  part  of  England  with  their  Parliamen- 
tary autonomy,  I  do  not  think  that  we  shall  have 
any  cause  of  complaint.  On  the  contrary,  we 
should  view  with  favour  the  rise  of  a  high-spirited, 
proud,  national  feeling  amongst  them.  Such  a 
sentiment  would  neither  be  antagonistic  to  our 
interests,  nor  inimical  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
tie  which  now  subsists  between  us." 

Two  hundred  years,  however,  separated  Col- 
bert from  Lord  Dufferin,  and  France  had  to  work 
out  her  colonial  system  in  harmony  with  the  spirit 
which  permeated  her  institutions  during  the  sev- 
enteenth century.  To  speak  of  colonial  theory, 
all  the  European  states — Spain,  Portugal,  France, 
Holland,  and  England — made  mistakes  which  from 
our    point    of    view    must    seem    incredible.     Still, 


The  Historical  Background  of  New  France  43 

there  is  consolation,  for  after  following  a  long 
record  of  failure  and  misapplied  effort,  it  is  stimu- 
lating to  see  the  true  ideal  emerge  at  last.  The 
nature  of  this  fuller,  nobler  faith  is  revealed  to  us 
most  perfectly  by  Burke  in  his  speech  On  Concilia- 
tion with  A  merica  : 

' '  My  hold  of  the  colonies  is  in  the  close  affection 
which  grows  from  common  names,  from  kindred 
blood,  from  similar  privileges,  and  equal  protec- 
tion. These  are  ties,  which,  though  light  as  air, 
are  as  strong  as  links  of  iron.  Let  the  colonies 
always  keep  the  idea  of  their  civil  rights  associated 
with  your  government;  they  will  cUng  and  grapple 
to  you;  and  no  force  under  heaven  would  be  of 
power  to  tear  them  from  their  allegiance.  But 
let  it  once  be  understood  that  your  government 
may  be  one  thing,  and  their  privileges  another; 
that  these  two  things  may  exist  without  any  mutual 
relation;  the  cement  is  gone;  the  cohesion  is 
loosened;  and  everything  hastens  to  decay  and 
dissolution.  As  long  as  you  have  the  wisdom  to 
keep  the  sovereign  authority  of  this  country  as 
the  sanctuary  of  liberty,  the  sacred  temple  conse- 
crated to  our  common  faith,  wherever  the  chosen 
race  and  sons  of  England  w^orship  freedom,  they 
will  turn  their  eyes  to  you.  The  more  they  multi- 
ply, the  more  friends  you  will  have;  the  more 
ardently  they  love  hberty,  the  more  perfect  will 
be  their  obedience.  Slavery  they  can  have  every- 
w^here.  It  is  a  weed  that  grows  in  every  soil. 
They  may  have  it  from  Spain,  they  may  have  it 
from  Prussia.  But,  until  you  become  lost  to  all 
feeling    of   your   true   interest    and   your   national 


44  The  Historical  Background  of  New  France 

dignity,  freedom  they  can  have  from  none  but  you. 
This  is  the  commodity  of  price,  of  which  you  have 
the  monoply.  This  is  the  true  act  of  navigation, 
which  binds  to  you  the  commerce  of  the  colonies, 
and  through  them  secures  to  you  the  wealth  of 
the  world.  Deny  them  this  participation  of  free- 
dom, and  you  break  that  sole  bond,  which  orig- 
inally made,  and  must  still  preserve,  the  unity  of 
the  empire.  Do  not  entertain  so  weak  an  imagi- 
nation as  that  your  registers  and  your  bonds,  your 
affidavits  and  your  sufferances,  your  cockets  and 
your  clearances,  are  what  form  the  great  securi- 
ties of  your  commerce.  Do  not  dream  that  your 
letters  of  office  and  your  instructions,  and  your 
suspending  clauses  are  the  things  that  hold  together 
the  great  contexture  of  this  mysterious  whole. 
These  things  do  not  make  your  government.  Dead 
instruments,  passive  tools  as  they  are,  it  is  the 
spirit  of  the  English  communion  that  gives  all 
their  life  and  efficacy  to  them.  It  is  the  spirit  of 
the  English  constitution,  which,  infused  through 
the  mighty  mass,  pervades,  feeds,  unites,  invigor- 
ates, vivifies  every  part  of  the  empire,  even  down 
to  the  minutest  member." 

Not  improbably  Bossuet  could  have  been  just 
as  eloquent  in  praise  of  selfless  loyalty  to  the  king. 
But  the  world  inclines  to  judge  by  results,  and 
apparently  the  logic  of  events  justifies  Burke's 
doctrine  regarding  the  proper  attitude  of  the  mother 
to  the  daughter  state.  Amid  all  that  this  final 
contrast  implies  we  at  last  pause.  For  the  rami- 
fications of  history  are  endless,  and  one  must  rest 
content   to   follow  the  highway  a  short   distance. 


The  Historical  Background  of  New  France  45 

Otherwise  the  historical  background  of  Bossuet 
and  Burke  would  need  to  be  sought  in  the  thir- 
teenth century— Bossuet  standing  out  against  the 
France  of  St.  Louis,  Burke  against  the  England  of 
Simon  de  Montfort. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  EXPLORER— CHAMPLAIN 

DR.  SAMUEL  JOHNSON,  sipping  his  twelfth 
cup  of  tea,  found  it  hard  to  understand  why 
people  should  take  the  trouble  of  visiting  out- 
landish and  savage  places.  To  him  it  seemed 
absurd  that  one  should  run  the  risk  of  starving  or 
breaking  his  neck,  when  he  could  sit  comfortably 
at  home  and  conceive  the  spectacle  of  rugged  hills 
and  solitary  wastes.  Fleet  Street,  in  short,  was 
the  centre  of  the  universe,  and  those  who  wan- 
dered beyond  easy  reach  of  it  were  fools  for  their 
pains.  But  many  of  us  are  lighter  on  our  feet 
than  Dr.  Johnson,  and  even  he  was  lured  by  Bos- 
well  into  the  wilds  of  the  Hebrides.  As  between 
society  and  solitude,  however,  the  question  is 
much  older  than  Johnson's  time.  "Now  am  I 
in  Arden,"  quoth  Touchstone.  "When  I  was  at 
home  I  was  in  a  better  place;  but  travellers  must 
be  content."  Probably  many  of  Shakspere's  con- 
temporaries said  this  to  themselves  in  some  form 
or  other,  when  they  became  weary  of  sailing 
beneath  the  Southern  Cross,  or  toiling  through 
the  trackless  wilderness  of  America.     But  despite 

disappointment    repeated   and   well-nigh    crushing, 

46 


The  Explorer — Champlain  47 

the  explorers  kept  at  their  work  with  unflagging 
enthusiasm.  It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  why 
this  should  have  been  so,  albeit  Dr.  Johnson 
found  the  matter  a  puzzle.  Stevenson  gives  us 
the  exact  reason  when  he  says  in  his  stirring  essay 
on  the  English  Admirals:  "Instead  of  having  a 
taste  for  being  successful  merchants  and  retir- 
ing at  thirty,  some  people  have  a  taste  for  high 
and  what  we  call  heroic  forms  of  excitement." 

That  certainly  was  what  the  early  explorers 
got  when  they  came  to  America.  High  and  heroic 
forms  of  excitement  abounded  on  every  hand. 
For  men  like  Champlain  and  La  Salle  the  wilder- 
ness was  full  of  mystery  and  charm.  They  longed 
to  know  its  secrets,  as  the  boy  who  first  reads 
Grimm's  Fairy  Tales  longs  to  plunge  into  the 
forest,  where  dwell  the  charcoal  burners  and  the 
dwarfs  with  their  hoards  of  emeralds  and  rubies, 
where  the  enchanted  castle  is  buried  from  view 
among  primeval  oaks,  and  where  unless  one  is 
on  his  guard  he  may  be  turned  into  a  wolf  or  a 
stag  by  drinking  from  an  enchanted  spring.  Amer- 
ica, for  its  first  explorers,  was  seen  through  a 
golden  haze  of  romance  and  adventure.  Ponce  de 
Leon,  seeking  for  the  Fountain  of  Youth,  is  the 
true  type  of  these  knights  errant  whose  heads 
were  as  full  of  vision  as  the  brain  of  Don  Quixote. 
Many  of  the  discoverers  died  miserably,  like  Pi- 
zarro  and  La  Salle.  Others  received  but  pitiful 
rewards,  like  John  Cabot,  to  whom  in  his  royal 
bounty  Henry  VII.  gave  the  magnificent  sum  of 
£10.  Those  who  lost  health  or  fortune  in  striv- 
ing to  unlock  the  secrets  of  the  New  World  were 


48  The  Explorer — Champlain 

many.     Those  of  the  explorers  who  came  into  a 
quiet  harbour  at  the  close  of  life  were  few. 

The  appeal  of  America  to  the  European  imag- 
ination was  irresistible  and  could  be  illustrated 
at  great  length.  In  the  first  place  the  discoverers 
were  not  niggardly  in  their  use  of  colours.  Whether 
because  they  were  sanguine  in  temperament,  or 
because  they  wished  to  magnify  their  own  exploits, 
or  simply  because  they  were  fond  of  telling  a  good 
story,  they  loaded  their  pages  with  marvels  that 
made  the  slowest  pulse  beat  quick.  The  Spanish 
conquerors  of  Mexico  —  the  famous  Conquista- 
dores — told  of  a  wealth  and  civihsation  which  in 
many  ways  surpassed  the  highest  attainments 
of  Europe.  John  Cabot,  when  he  returned  from 
his  voyage  of  1497,  said  that  he  had  found  a  region 
of  redwood  and  of  silk,  a  fairly  long  bow  when 
one  considers  that  his  landfall  could  not  have 
been  farther  south  than  Cape  Breton.  When  Bar- 
low and  Amidas  returned  from  their  voyage  to 
Virginia  in  1587,  they  reported  that  Granganimeo, 
the  chief  they  found  in  possession  of  the  coast, 
had  a  great  box  of  pearls,  that  the  savages  were 
decked  out  in  ornaments  of  copper  and  gold,  that 
corn  was  ready  to  harvest  two  months  after  seed- 
time, and  that  peas  reached  the  height  of  fourteen 
inches  within  ten  days  from  the  time  when  they 
were  put  into  the  ground.  On  every  hand  there 
abounded  tales  of  gold  and  silver  mines  which 
would  not  disgrace  a  modern  prospectus. 

Stimulated  by  these  reports  of  the  explorers, 
part  fact  and  part  fable,  the  curiosity  of  Europe 
regarding  the  New  World  became  insatiable.     The 


\ 


The  Explorer — Champlain  49 

land,  its  inhabitants,  and  its  resources  were  all 
subjects  of  an  excited  interest.  Shakspere  says 
in  the  Tempest  that  Englishmen  who  will  not 
give  a  doit  to  relieve  a  lame  beggar  will  lay  out 
ten  to  see  a  dead  Indian.  And  for  that  matter 
the  whole  setting  of  the  Tempest  is  suggested  by 
stories  of  trans-Atlantic  adventure.  From  what 
was  said  a  moment  ago  regarding  the  greediness 
for  marv-els,  a  somewhat  false  inference  might  be 
drawn.  It  was  not  the  vrdgar  alone  who  lay 
awake  at  night  to  think  upon  the  riches  and  de- 
hghts  of  the  New  World.  The  greatest  wits  of 
England,  France,  and  Spain  w^ere  touched  by  a 
hke  enthusiasm,  or  perhaps  one  might  better  say 
by  a  ^curiosity  which  was  no  less  keen  than  that 
of  the  vulgar,  though  it  was  more  refined.  This 
can  be  seen  from  the  form  in  which  Sir  Thomas 
More  clothes  his  romance  of  Utopia.  It  appears 
clearer  still  in  the  essays  of  Montaigne.  It  is  an 
essential  factor  of  Bacon's  New  Atlantis.  Visions 
of  an  idyllic  society  beyond  the  seas  floated  before 
the  imagination  of  those  master  spirits  whose 
ideals  soared  above  gold  mines  and  pearl  fisheries. 
Far  away  from  the  wars  and  vices  of  Europe  was 
there  not  some  spot  where  mankind  dwelt  in 
peace,  \drtue,  and  innocence?  Mr.  Cunninghame 
Graham  has  caUed  his  book  on  the  Jesuit  Mission 
in  Paraguay,  A  Vanished  Arcadia.  It  was  indeed 
Arcadia  that  the  European  optimist  hoped  some 
discoverer  might  find  in  the  heart  of  the  Ameri- 
can wilderness. 

The   Hterature  of  exploration  is  large,  for   any 
book  about  the  New  World  was  sure  to  find  readers. 


50  The  Explorer — Champlain 

An  amusing  account  could  be  given  of  the  way 
in  which  unscrupulous  bookmakers  stole  and  modi- 
fied, in  order  to  catch  the  ear  of  the  public.  Many 
a  volume  on  America  which  purported  to  be  new,, 
and  of  original  authority,  was  a  barefaced  compila- 
tion from  works  already  in  existence.  In  other 
cases  men  like  Hennepin  or  La  Hontan,  who  actu- 
ally had  been  in  the  wilderness,  enlarged  their 
experience  for  the  sake  of  fame,  or  to  make* 
out  a  more  marketable  story.  Thus  La  Hontan  ■■:■. 
invented  his  journey  to  the  River  Long;  thus  /^ 
Hennepin  embroidered  his  adventures  in  the  val-  "^ 
ley  of  the  Mississippi.  It  is  particularly  interest- 
ing to  see  how  quiet  Church-of-England  clergy-  ^j 
men  like  Richard  Hakluj^t  and  Samuel  Purchas  -J 
were  carried  away  by  their  love  of  this  literature. 
Passing  their  lives  amid  the  hum-drum  routine 
of  quiet  parishes,  their  thoughts  were  over  the  sea 
in  the  land  of  the  Aztecs  or  on  the  island  of  Roan- 
oke. Each  of  these  divines  edited  a  series  of 
travels  so  extensive  that  taken  together  the  two 
works  fill  forty  volumes  of  a  modern  edition.  And 
Purchas  says  of.  himself:  "I,  which  have  written 
so  much  of  travellers  and  travels,  never  travelled 
two  hundred  miles  from  Thaxted  in  Essex,  where 
I  was  born."  In  France  one  finds  a  like  fondness 
for  trans-Atlantic  literature.  The  Relations  des 
JHuites  were  read  out  of  their  covers,  and  though 
issued  in  large  editions  from  the  press  of  Sebastian 
Cramoisy  are  now  extremely  rare.  Whether  we 
ascribe  the  avidity  of  purchasers  and  readers  to 
their  zeal  for  the  mission  or  to  their  love  of  adven- 
turous  literature,    these   reports   from   the   forests 


The  Explorer — Champlain  51 

of  Lake  Huron  were  read  as  the  school-boy  reads 
Tom  Brown  at  Rugby. 

In  the  case  of  Canada  some  elements  of  romance 
were  lacking.  A  slight  investigation  sufficed  to 
show  that  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  gold 
mines  and  silver  mines  were  conspicuous  by  their 
absence.  The  wealth  of  the  country  lay  in  beaver 
skins,  and  obviously  it  was  less  exciting  to  hunt 
the  industrious  beaver  than  to  prospect  for  gold. 
Moreover  no  explorer  brought  back  from  the  inte- 
rior of  New  France  reports  of  a  native  civilisation 
equal  to  that  of  the  Aztecs  in  Mexico.  Another 
depressing  circumstance  was  the  rigour  of  the 
climate.  From  the  first  moment  of  French  settle- 
ment in  Canada  until  tl^  Seven  Years'  War,  there 
were  those  who  scoffed  at  the  idea  of  founding  a 
colony  under  the  shadow  of  the  North  Pole.  We 
all  know  how  Voltaire  called  Canada  a  patch  of 
snow,  but  unless  one  uses  the  index  to  Voltaire's 
seventy  volumes  he  will  hardly  realise  how  often 
this  author  recurs  to  the  same.  idea.  He  comments 
upon  the  poverty  of  Louisbourg  in  contrast  to 
the  affluence  of  the  city  of  Mexico,  where  there 
are  fifteen  thousand  carriages;  and  to  that  of 
Lima,  where,  he  says,  the  number  of  carriages  is 
larger  still.  He  styles  Canada  a  wretched  country 
for  the  sake  of  which  the  French  are  always  kept 
in  war,  either  with  the  natives  or  with  the  Eng- 
lish. He  says  it  is  covered  with  snow  and  ice  for 
eight  months  in  the  year,  and  inhabited  by  bar- 
barians, bears,  and  beavers.  Speaking  of  Kirke's 
expedition  in  1628,  Voltaire  further  observes:  "He 
took  possession  of  the  whole  of  Acadia.     That  is 


52  The  Explorer — Champlain 

to   say,   he   destroyed  the  huts   of    a    few    fisher- 
men." 

Thus  one  quick-witted  Frenchman  thought  Can- 
ada a  bad  investment.  But  this  was  not  the  only 
side  to  the  picture.  The  grandeur  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence and  the  Great  Lakes,  the  abundance  of 
fish  and  game,  the  joys  of  open-air  life  in  the  sum- 
mer, and  the  possibilities  of  the  fur  trade  were 
strong  and  sufficient  inducements  to  the  explorer. 
Manifestly  Canada  was  not  a  place  for  those 
whose  idea  of  life  in  the  New  World  was  to  bask 
in  an  even  temperature  of  75  degrees  and  eat 
bananas;  but  it  was  soon  dicovered  that  melons 
would  ripen  on  the  island  of  Montreal,  and  that 
even  winter  had  its  joys  and  compensations.  At 
any  rate  those  who  complain  and  criticise  are 
'not  the  explorers.  Almost  uniformly  the  explorer  - 
speaks  in  tones  of  buoyancy  and  hope.  New  France  % 
might  seem  less  favoured  by  nature  than  Florida 
or  Peru,  but  Champlain  and  men  like  him  gave 
little  thought  to  such  comparisons.  The  charm 
of  the  unknown  was  the  same,  whether  in  high 
latitudes  or  low. 

Leaving  Quebec  the  pioneer  plunged  into  the 
heart  of  the  wilderness,  there  to  brave  the  red 
man  and  the  fatigues  of  the  portage.  One  of  the 
first  foes  he  encountered  was  the  mosquito.  The 
records  of  exploration  abound  with  reference  to 
birds,  animals,  and  insects,  but  not  even  the  worthy 
beaver  furnishes  a  larger  subject  for  comment 
than  the  melodious  and  persevering  mosquito. 
Thus  Father  Paul  Le  Jeune,  writing  in  August, 
1632,   tells   how   he   ventured   to   go   ashore   near 


The  Explorer — Champlain  53 

Tadoussac.  "I  thought,"  he  says,  "I  would  be 
eaten  by  the  mosquitoes,  which  are  little  flies, 
troublesome  in  the  extreme.  The  great  forests 
here  engender  several  species  of  them;  there  are 
common  flies,  gnats,  fireflies,  mosquitoes,  large 
flies,  and  a  number  of  others;  the  large  flies  sting 
furiously,  and  the  pain  from  their  sting,  which  is 
very  piercing,  lasts  for  a  long  time;  there  are  but 
few  of  these  large  flies.  The  gnats  are  very  small, 
hardly  visible,  but  very  perceptibly  felt;  the  fire- 
flies do  no  harm;  at  night  they  look  like  sparks 
of  fire,  casting  a  greater  light  than  the  gU)wworms 
I  have  seen  in  France.  Taking  one  of  these  flies 
and  holding  it  near  a  book,  I  could  read  very  easily. 
As  for  the  mosquitoes,  they  are  disagreeable  beyond 
description.  They  war,  however,  upon  some  peo- 
ple more  than  others."  From  all  of  which,  and 
much  else  to  the  same  effect,  it  would  appear  that 
the  insect  life  of  Canada  has  suffered  little  change 
during  the  past  two  hundred  and  seventy-five 
years. 

However  deep  an  interest  the  pioneer  might 
take  in  the  flora  and  fauna  of  the  forest,  its  human 
inhabitants  had  a  still  stronger  claim  upon  his 
attention.  Most  of  those  who  owe  their  sole 
knowledge  of  the  American  Indian  to  the  novels 
of  J.  Fenimore  Cooper  mil  be  surprised  to  learn 
that  the  numbers  of  the  red  man  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  continent  were  singularly  small.  Owing 
to  the  fact  that  the  Western  Hemisphere  was 
lacking  in  animals  which  could  be  domesticated, 
agriculture  was  backward,  and  without  agriculture 
there  could  be  no  large  population.     Among  the 


54  The  Explorer — Champlain 

Eskimo,  at  the  present  day,  the  struggle  for 
existence  is  so  severe  that  as  a  rule  the  aged  are 
abandoned  to  their  fate.  In  the  part  of  America 
occupied  by  New  France  the  conditions  were 
somewhat  less  rigorous  than  in  the  Arctic  Circle, 
but  save  for  the  tribes  which  cultivated  maize 
?the  food  supply  was  most  precarious.  A  tribe  of 
the  Montagnais  roving  through  the  Laurentian 
country  in  winter  was  always  face  to  face  with 
starvation,  and  farther  south,  throughout  the  region 
where  winter  was  less  trying,  intertribal  wars 
caused  dreadful  loss  of  life.  Epidemic  diseases 
were  another  scourge.  When  we  consider  all  these 
facts  in  conjunction  with  each  other,  we  can  under- 
stand why  the  Indian  population  should  have 
been  so  small.  Speaking  in  more  precise  terms, 
it  may  be  doubted  whether  all  the  Indians  between 
Kentucky  and  the  Ottawa  (from  south  to  north), 
and  between  Lake  Superior  and  the  Atlantic  (from 
west  to  east),  numbered  above  100,000  souls. 

Nearly  three  quarters  of  this  total  is  repre- 
sented by  the  Algonquins,  who  occupied  the 
greater  part  of  the  territory  just  defined.  The 
Micmacs,  the  Penobscots,  the  Montagnais,  the 
Ottawas,  and  the  IlHnois,  are  but  a  few  of  the 
tribes  belonging  to  the  Algonquin  family.  While 
somewhat  more  amenable  to  civilisation  than  the 
Iroquois,  the  Algonquins  are  not  to  be  thought 
of  as  a  peaceful  group  of  Indians.  Wherever  they 
practised  agriculture  at  all,  their  tillage  was  very 
poor,  and  in  general  they  depended  for  food  upon 
hunting  and  fishing.  Over  against  them  may  be 
placed  the  much  smaller  group  of  Huron-Iroquois. 


The  Explorer — Champlain  ^^ 

By  speaking  of  the  Hurons  and  the  Iroquois  in 
conjunction,  one  does  not  mean  to  imply  that  they 
were  good  friends.  In  the  end  the  Huron  nation 
was  virtually  exterminated  by  the  Iroquois,  these 
family  feuds  cropping  out  at  times  even  among 
races.  A  parallel  case  is  furnished  in  the  annals 
of  Europe  by  the  hatreds  of  Goths  and  Vandals 
who  were  first  cousins,  but  the  bitterest  foes  to 
each  other  of  all  the  German  tribes  that  entered 
the  Roman  Empire.  The  Hurons  had  their  head- 
quarters in  the  district  neighbouring  Georgian 
Bay.  The  Iroquois  hved  south  of  Lake  Ontario, 
and  controlled  the  region  between  the  Hudson 
and  the  Ohio.  The  Five  Nations,  as  the  EngUsh 
called  them,  were  the  keenest,  the  bravest,  the 
crudest,  and  the  most  daring  Indians  with  whom 
the  French  came  in  contact.  With  an  average 
of  hardly  more  than  three  thousand  inhabitants 
to  a  tribe,  the  Mohawks,  Senecas,  Oneidas,  Onon- 
dagas,  and  Cayugas  were  terrorising  the  whole 
Indian  world  at  the  moment  when  Champlain  came 
to  Quebec. 

The  myth  of  the  noble  red  man  is  hard  to  dispel, 
and  even  when  you  have  dispelled  it  you  are 
vexed  by  the  Ungering  feeling  that  after  all  you 
may  not  be  right.  If  one  should  press  against 
the  North  American  Indian  the  worst  things  that 
have  been  said  about  him  by  those  who  knew  him 
well,  he  would  seem  more  devilish  than  the  head- 
hunters  of  Borneo,  and  more  indecent  than  the 
Hottentots.  The  inhuman  delight  he  showed  in 
the  torture  of  prisoners  is  perhaps  the  worst  item 
in  the  indictment   against   him,  though  many  dis- 


56  The  Explorer — Champlain 

gusting  details  have  been  preserved  about  his 
private  hfe.  On  the  other  hand,  the  backward 
races  must  be  viewed  in  the  light  of  the  fact  that 
moral  standards  are  constantly  changing.  The  red 
man  had  certain  standards  of  honour  and  decency 
by  which,  with  a  certain  degree  of  force,  he 
might  claim  to  be  tried.  Courage,  patience,  gener- 
osity, politeness,  and  independence  are  fine  traits, 
and  the  Indians  were  credited  by  many  observers 
with  possessing  all  of  these  characteristics.  There 
is  also  much  testimony  to  show  that  among  them- 
selves, members  of  a  given  tribe  were  peaceable. 
On  the  whole  the  council  is  the  institution  which 
shows  them  off  to  the  best  advantage.  It  was 
said  of  the  Normans,  by  one  of  their  own  histori- 
ans, that  they  were  orators  from  the  cradle.  The 
Indians,  especially  the  Hurons  and  the  Iroquois, 
had  a  natural  eloquence  which  impressed  almost 
every  European  explorer.  At  their  marriages  and 
feasts  speaking  had  a  place  which  was  quite  equal 
to  that  of  oratory  in  post-prandial  exercises  at  the 
present  day.  The  Indian  loved  rhetoric  for  its 
own  sake,  and  at  times  could  be  rhetorical  in  the 
bad  sense  of  that  term.  But  more  often  he  was 
dignified  and  polished,  loved  a  logical  treatment 
of  his  subject,  and  relied  for  his  effect  mainly  on 
the  force  of  his  reasons.  The  council  of  the  tribe 
was  a  gathering  in  which  these  gifts  of  speech 
found  free  scope  for  exercise.  On  great  occasions 
a  platform  was  erected  for  the  orators,  and  as  a 
rule  those  who  could  best  persuade  were  held  in 
highest  honour.  One  is  particularly  interested  to\ 
see  how  the  first  of  the  French  in  America  were 


The  Explorer — Champlain  ^y 

impressed  by  the  eloquence  and  the  reasoning- 
powers  of  the  savage.  In  1636  Le  Jeune  says 
that  a  chieftain  of  the  Montagnais  at  Tadoussac 
speaks  like  a  Roman  Senator.  In  1649  the  Huron 
refugees  who  sought  aid  from  the  French  after  the 
greater  part  of  their  nation  had  been  extermi- 
nated by  the  Iroquois,  spoke  for  more  than  three 
hours  with  an  eloquence  that  could  not  have  been 
surpassed  in  France.  No  feature  of  Indian  life 
and  character  awakened  more  sincere  admiration 
among  European  explorers  than  this  facility  in, 
public  speech.  A  certain  aptitude  for  civilisation! 
seems  to  be  suggested  by  other  facts  which  the 
explorers  observed.  The  Iroquois  had  crops  of 
maize,  and  kept  a  certain  food  supply  in  reserve.  ■ 
They  had  their  villages,  and  built  palisades  as  a  \ 
safeguard  against  surprise  or  siege.  They  had 
made  some  progress  in  the  primitive  arts,  particu- 
larly in  weaving. 

But  when  one  has  prepared  the  best  possible 
brief  on  behalf  of  the  North  American  Indian,  he 
must  admit  that  only  by  a  suppression  of  essential 
facts  can  the  red  man  be  turned  into  material 
for  romance.  What  of  the  wigwam,  with  its  vile 
smoke  and  its  horrid  dirt?  What  of  Indian  cook- 
ery, crude  and  gross,  with  its  chief  delicacy  in 
bear's  fat?  What  of  the  torture,  with  its  cruelties 
wanton  and  fiendish  almost  beyond  belief?  Wil- 
liam of  Malmesbury,  who  Uved  shortly  after  the 
Norman  Conquest,  states  that  our  Anglo-Saxon 
ancestors  were  accustomed  to  eat  until  they  were 
surfeited,  and  to  drink  till  they  were  sick.  But 
there  is  a  wide  gulf  between  Anglo-Saxon  revel 


58  The  Explorer — Champla'in 

and  the  festin  ti  manger  tout  of  the  Iroquois.  We 
need  not  dwell  at  length  on  the  darker  side  of 
Indian  character,  or  try  to  discriminate  between 
what  is  best,  and  what  worst.  One  fact  stands 
out  from  all  others.  The  North  American  Indian 
had  not  enough  self-control,  or  enough  capacity 
for  education,  to  resist  the  vices  of  European 
society.  Fire-water  was  his  chief  bane,  but  even 
where  he  did  not  destroy  himself  by  the  excessive 
potation  of  bad  brandy,  he  assimilated  the  least 
desirable  things  which  the  French  and  English 
had  to  teach  him.  One  cannot  generaUse  light- 
heartedly  about  men  in  the  mass,  whether  white 
or  black,  red  or  yellow.  Honest  and  self-sacrificing 
Indians  doubtless  existed,  but  the  race  at  large) 
was  doomed  from  the  first  moment  of  its  contact 
with  Europeans. '  It  had  not  reached  the  stage 
where  it  could  appreciate  and  profit  by  the  best 
in  European  example.  Its  inbred  love  of  animal 
pleasures  and  the  nomadic  life  was  far  stronger 
than  any  culture  impulses  impelling  it  to  accept 
European  discipline  and  knowledge. 

From  the  wilderness  and  its  inhabitants,  let 
us  now  turn  to  the  Explorer  who,  through  love 
of  gain,  adventure  or  fame,  braved  the  perils  of 
the  unknown.  It  does  not  take  long  to  discover 
his  motives.  The  true  explorer  goes  exploring 
because  he  likes  it,  an  explanation  which  lies  at 
the  root  of  all  decent  accomplishment.  You  may 
say  that  the  St.  Lawrence  and  its  tributaries  were 
explored  because  a  good  cargo  of  beaver  skins 
brought  in  a  profit  of  200  per  cent.  But  leaving 
aside  the  missionary  motive,  which  in  the  present 


The  Explorer — Champlain  59 

case  was  quite  as  important  as  the  desire  for  large 
profits,  no  genuine  explorer  is  a  mere  money  getter. 
He  may  talk  about  fame,  or  serving  his  king,  or 
extending  the  borders  of  science,  but  in  reality 
he  has  a  quick  imagination  which  takes  fire  at  the 
thought  of  strange  sights  and  untried  excitements. 
If  he  is  to  succeed  he  must  have,  besides  imagina- 
tion, strong  nerves  and  robustness  of  character. 
The  born  explorer  has  been  sketched  for  us  to  the 
life  by  Tennyson  in  his  Ulysses.  "Come,  my 
friends,"  exclaims  the  aged  king  of  Ithaca  to  the 
comrades  of  his  youth: 

"Come,  my  friends, 
'Tis  not  too  late  to  seek  a  newer  world. 
Push  off,  and  setting  well  in  order  smite 
The  sounding  furrows;    for  my  purpose  holds 
To  sail  beyond  the  sunset,  and  the  baths 
Of  all  the  western  stars,  until  I  die. 
It  may  be  that  the  gulfs  will  wash  us  down: 
It  may  be  we  shall  touch  the  Happy  Isles, 
And  see  the  great  Achilles  whom  we  knew. 
Though  much  is  taken,  much  abides;    and  though 
We  are  not  now  that  strength  which  in  old  days 
Moved  earth  and  heaven;    that  which  we  are,  we  are; 
One  equal  temper  of  heroic  hearts. 
Made  weak  by  time  and  fate,  but  strong  in  will 
To  strive,  to  seek,  to  find,  and  not  to  yield." 

In  this  spirit  America  was  discovered.  In  this 
spirit  the  recesses  of  the  continent  were  laid  bare. 
Many  were  they  who  entered  upon  the  work  with 
unconquerable  hopes  and  sinews  of  steel,  but 
among  them  all,  from  Columbus  to  Sir  Alexander 
j^.Iackenzie,  will  not  be  found  an  explorer  of  a  finer 


6o  The  Explorer— Champlain 

temper  or  a  more  native  genius  than  Samuel  de 
Champlain. 

Fortunately  we  have  the  record  of  his  Ufe  in' 
his  own  words — not  as  a  definite  autobiography, 
but  in  the  form  of  his  Voyages  or  travels.  In  1870 
the  complete  works  of  Champlain  were  published 
with  sumptuous  paper  and  print,  by  Laval  Uni- 
versity, under  the  editorial  care  of  the  Abbe  Laverd- 
iere.  And  this  editor  has  summed  up  well  when, 
in  the  first  sentence  of  his  introduction,  he  writes: 
"It  may  be  said  that  the  whole  life  of  Champlain 
is  to  be  had  from  his  works."  It  becomes,  there- 
fore, the  chief  duty  of  a  lecturer  on  Champlain 
to  emphasise  the  sovereign  importance  of  the 
explorer's  narrative.  The  most  complete  English 
translation  is  that  which  was  made  some  twenty- 
five  years  ago  by  Professor  C.  P.  Otis.  This  ver- 
sion, originally  issued  by  the  Prince  Society  of 
Boston,  has  been  repubUshed  recently  under  the 
care  of  Dr.  Jameson  and  Mr.  W.  L.  Grant.  An- 
other serviceable  translation  of  the  early  Voyages 
will  be  found  in  the  Trail  Makers'  series.  Best  of 
all,  however,  is  Champlain' s  own  text  for  those 
who  can  read  French  of  the  seventeenth  century 
— an  exercise  of  no  great  difficulty. 

It  seems  probable  that  Champlain  became  an 
author  through  happy  accident.  In  1603,  when 
asked  to  join  De  Chastes'  expedition,  he  accepted 
under  the  condition  that  the  king  gave  him  express 
permission.  Not  only  did  Henry  IV.  grant  the 
desired  leave,  but  he  ordered  Champlain  to  present 
on  his  return  a  minute  account  of  all  that  had 
been  discovered.     Accordingly  the  founder  of  Que- 


Champlaint 


The  Explorer — Champlain  6i 

bee  made  his  first  voyage  to  the  St.  Lawrence, 
not  only  under  royal  warrant,  but  in  the  capacity 
of  geographer  to  the  king.  I  think  there  is  noth- 
ing to  show  that  Champlain  sought  this  post,  or  had 
it  in  mind  when  he  asked  for  the  king's  sanction. 
But  once  he  was  distinguished  by  special  appoint- 
ment, he  took  his  duties  of  geographer  and  hydrog- 
rapher  very  seriously,  and  in  consequence  we  have 
a  priceless  record  of  adventure.  Champlain  writes 
v^dth  great  simpUcity  and  directness,  lopping  off 
those  ornaments  of  style  which  can  well  be  dis- 
pensed with  in  such  a  narrative,  and  never  suffer- 
ing the  action  to  lag.  He  uses  the  first  person 
with  great  frequency,  but  not  in  a  strain  of  boast- 
fulness.  He  had  unusual  experiences  to  describe, 
and  knew  that  a  plain  tale  would  be  most 
effective.  From  what  he  did,  rather  than  from 
what  he  says  about  his  deeds,  we  infer  the  nature 
of  his  greatness  as  an  explorer,  but  it  is  clear  that 
he  had  the  cheerfulness,  the  determination,  and 
the  zest  in  his  task  which  Ughten  all  burdens. 

At  the  date  when  Champlain  first  sailed  for 
the  St.  Lawrence,  he  was  thirty-six  years  old. 
Like  Cartier,  he  came  of  a  seafaring  family,  but 
unhke  Cartier,  he  had  seen  service  in  war  before 
he  entered  upon  his  larger  career  of  navigator. 
Bom  at  Brouage  in  Saint  Onge,  he  was  christened 
Samuel,  a  name  common  among  the  Huguenots. 
Whether  Champlain  started  Ufe  in  the  ranks  of 
the  Calvinists  is  a  matter  of  slight  practical  impor- 
tance. In  adult  years  he  was  a  convinced  and 
enthusiastic  Cathohc,  who  rendered  conspicuous 
service  to  his  Church,  and  was  held  by  her  in  high 


62  The  Explorer — Champlain 

honour.  Despite  the  part  which  he  took  in  the 
wars  of  the  League,  his  heart  from  boyhood  was 
set  upon  the  sea.  Looking  back  to  this  period, 
he  once  said:  "I  loved  the  sea  in  my  early  years, 
and  through  my  whole  life  I  have  met  its  perils 
on  the  ocean  and  on  the  coasts  of  New  France, 
with  the  hope  of  seeing  the  lily  of  France  able  to 
protect  there  the  holy  Catholic  religion." 

By  an  interesting  freak  of  fortune,  Champlain 
first  saw  the  New  World  under  Spanish  auspices. 
Relieved  from  military  duties  at  the  Peace  of  Ver- 
vins  in  1598,  he  at  once  took  to  his  chosen  element, 
and  sailed  for  Cadiz  with  a  load  of  Spanish  soldiers 
who  had  been  serving   in  France  during  the  reh- 
gious  wars.     While  in  Spain  he  became  known  as 
an  expert  seaman,  and  in  command  of  a  freight 
boat    visited    the    West    Indies    and    Mexico.     His 
ship   sailed   in    company   with    a   royal    squadron, 
and  he  had  every  chance  to  see  the  most  valuable 
part  of  the  Spanish  possessions  in  America.     Mex- 
ico   delighted    him,    both    city    and    country.     He 
went  to  Panama,  and  reflected  upon  the  possibility 
of  piercing  the  isthmus  by  a  canal.      In  short  he  ) 
was  personally  familiar  with  the  Spanish  part  of/ 
North    America    before    he    became    a    founder    ofi 
French  power  in  Canada.     From  such  a  standard! 
of  comparison,  he  must  have  gained  great  profit; 
in  later  life.  ' 

This  first  of  Champlain's  trans-Atlantic  expedi- 
tions occupied  over  two  years,  and  furnished  him 
with  material  for  a  little  book — his  Voyage  to  the 
West  Indies.  The  book  in  turn  enhanced  the 
honourable  reputation  which   he  had   gained  as  a 


The  Explorer — Champlain  63 

soldier,  and  brought  him  the  favourable  notice  of 
Henry  IV.  It  needs  to  be  pointed  out  that  Cham-/ 
plain,  throughout  the  whole  period  when  he  was 
working  so  hard  for  France  in  Canada,  received 
faithful  support  from  leading  personages  like  the 
Comte  de  Soissons,  the  Prince  de  Conde,  the  Due 
de  Montmorency,  and  Richeheu  himself.  Many 
of  the  explorers  were  weakened  by  the  machina- 
tions of  enemies  at  court;  Champlain,  on  the  con- 
trary, enjoyed  the  rare  and  honourable  distinction 
of  being  trusted.  This  fact  alone  should  give  us 
some  impression  of  his  character. 

From  1603  forward,  information  regarding 
Champlain' s  movements  is  so  abundant  that  we 
shall  be  unable  to  foUow  the  details  of  his  career. 
For  us  his  chief  exploits  are  associated  with  the 
St.  Lawrence  basin  and  the  Great  Lakes.  But 
while  this  is  so,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  before 
he  finally  committed  himself  to  Laurentian  explora- 
tion, he  had  done  splendid  work  on  the  Atlantic 
seaboard.  In  point  of  time,  the  relation  between 
the  Acadian  episode  and  the  founding  of  Quebec 
can  best  be  indicated  as  follows:  Champlain  made 
his  first  voyage  to  the  St.  Lawrence  in  1603,  sail- 
ing aboard  a  ship  which  was  commanded  by  Pont- 
grave,  the  famous  mariner  of  St.  Malo.  On  this 
occasion  he  reached  Tadoussac  towards  the  close 
of  April,  and  left  it  for  the  homeward  voyage  on 
the  1 6th  of  August.  During  the  interval  he  sailed 
up  the  Saguenay  for  a  considerable  distance — 
farther  than  any  of  the  French  traders  had  gone — 
and  ascended  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  foot  of  the 
Lachine  Rapids.     As  a  second  side  excursion  (that 


64  The  Explorer — Champlain 

up  the  Saguenay  being  the  first),  he  followed  the 
RicheUeu  until  he  reached  the  rapid  at  Chambly. 
Returning  to  Tadoussac  in  July,  he  went  thence 
to  Gaspe,  had  a  ghmpse  of  the  Isle  Percee,  looked 
into  the  Bay  of  Chaleurs,  and  thence  returned  to 
Tadoussac  for  a  cargo  of  furs.  Besides  beaver 
skins,  Champlain  took  back  to  France  with  him, 
from  this  voyage,  several  Indians.  It  was  in  1603 
that  he  named  Lake  St.  Peter  and  the  Falls  of 
Montmorency.  His  imagination  was  also  excited 
by  what  the  Indians  told  him  about  great  lakes 
lying  far  above  the  Lachine  Rapids.  One  part  of 
this  tale  was  that  beyond  a  stupendous  cataract 
there  lay  a  sea  of  salt  water. 

All  this,  one  might  think,  should  have  brought 
Champlain  back  to  the  St.  Lawrence  the  follow- 
ing spring;  but  as  matters  turned  out,  he  was  not 
to  see  it  for  nearly  five  years  after  he  first  left 
Tadoussac.  De  Chastes,  who  had  prompted  the 
expedition  of  1603,  died  before  his  ships  returned. 
The  result  was  that  for  the  next  few  years,  French 
effort  in  North  America  was  deflected  from  the 
St.  Lawrence  to  Acadia.  De  Monts,  upon  whom 
De  Chastes'  mantle  immediately  fell,  sought  to 
establish  a  colony,  but  desired  for  it  a  more  salu- 
brious climate  than  that  of  Tadoussac.  How  the 
French  strove  to  gain  a  foothold  at  St.  Croix  Island 
and  Port  Royal,  every  one  knows.  For  the  pres- 
ent we  are  concerned  only  with  Acadian  colon- 
isation as  an  episode  in  the  life  and  exploration  of 
Champlain.  During  the  seasons  from  1604  to 
1607  he  was  engaged  in  studying  the  American 
coast  line  from  Nova  Scotia  to  Martha's  Vineyard. 


The  Explorer — Champlain  65 

In  his  role  of  geographer,  he  made  exact  observa- 
tions, gave  names  to  the  most  important  physical 
features,  and  prepared  a  series  of  maps.  At  pres- 
ent this  region  is  frequented  in  summer  by  thousands 
of  pleasure-seekers  from  both  Canada  and  the 
United  States.  But  the  tourist  who  goes  to  the 
coast  of  Maine,  to  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  or  to  the  south- 
ern shore  line  of  Nova  Scotia,  is  imperfectly 
equipped  unless  he  carries  Champlain' s  Voyages. 
No  one  before  him  had  examined  this  coast  with 
any  degree  of  accuracy,  or  charted  the  sinuosities 
of  cape  and  island.  Without  multiplying  exam- 
ples, it  is  to  Champlain  that  we  owe  the  names  of 
Port  Royal,  the  St.  John  River,  and  Mount  Desert. 

Meanwhile  the  efforts  of  De  Monts  to  build  up 
French  colonies  in  Acadia  had  been  a  failure,  and 
Champlain  seized  the  occasion  to  bring  the  St. 
Lawrence  once  more  into  prominence.  For  nearly 
seventy-five  years  the  French  had  been  familiar 
with  the  course  of  the  great  river  as  far  as  Mon- 
treal. Jacques  Cartier  opened  that  path.  But 
until  1608  there  had  been  no  genuine  attempt  to 
create  a  permanent  settlement,  even  of  fur  traders. 
The  nearest  approach  to  such  an  attempt  was  made 
in  1600  by  Chauvin,  a  merchant  of  Honfleur,  who 
left  sixteen  men  to  winter  at  Tadoussac.  Though 
on  good  terms  with  the  Indians,  most  of  them 
died  before  spring,  and  for  the  next  few  years 
French  ships  entered  the  St.  Lawrence  only  in  quest 
of  beaver  skins. 

It  is  clear  that  Quebec,  during  its  first  twenty 
years,  was  Uttle  more  than  an  outpost  of  the  fur 
trade.     At  this  period  Champlain  occupied  a  some- 


66  The  Explorer — Champlain 

what  difficult  position.  He  was  a  born  explorer 
whom  financial  exigencies  placed  in  dependence  upon 
men  of  business.  De  Monts  had  lost  money  in  Aca- 
dia, and  Champlain  pointed  out  that  he  might 
make  good  his  losses  by  venturing  a  little  more 
in  another  quarter.  But  Champlain  was  not  in-| 
spired  by  a  love  of  profit.  We  have,  fortunately, 
an  express  statement  regarding  his  aims,  from  one 
who  knew  him  well  in  Acadia.  I  refer  to  that 
vivacious  and  delightful  writer  Marc  Lescarbot, 
the  earUest  historian  of  Port  Royal.  In  the  very 
year  after  Champlain  landed  his  twenty-seven 
colonists  at  Quebec,  Lescarbot  published  his  His- 
toire  de  la  Nouvelle  France,  wherein  will  be  found 
this  passage:  "Let  us  admit  that  France  owes 
these  discoveries  to  the  Sieur  de  Monts,  at  whose 
expense  they  have  been  made;  and  she  is  likewise 
indebted  to  the  courage  of  Champlain  in  exposing 
his  life  in  these  explorations,  and  in  bearing  some 
of  the  charge.  Champlain  promises  never  to  cease 
his  efforts  until  he  has  found  either  a  western  sea 
or  a  northern  sea,  opening  the  route  to  China,  which 
so  many  have  thus  sought  in  vain." 

Much  emphasis  should  be  placed  upon  this  pas-i' 
sage  from  Lescarbot,  for  it  brings  out  the  motive 
of  Champlain's  whole  career.  Though  he  founded 
Quebec,  he  cannot  be  styled  the  Sir  Walter  Raleigh 
of  France.  He  was  first  and  foremost  a  geographer, 
— a  geographer  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  word, — 
one  who  discovers  and  who  sets  down  his  dis- 
coveries in  scientific  form.  On  a  smaller  scale 
De  Monts  may  perhaps  be  called  the  French  Ra- 
leigh.    Champlain   is   a   practical   seaman   like   his 


The  Explorer — Champlain  67 

friend  Pontgrave,  but  with  superior  knowledge] 
a  larger  intelligence,  and  a  more  abundant  share! 
of  public  spirit.  We  have  seen  how  he  came  to  the* 
St.  Lawrence  in  1603.  When  he  returned  to  it  in 
1608,  he  was  a  man  of  much  wider  experience.  He 
came  the  second  time  with  an  established  repu- 
tation, and  the  sense  of  confidence  which  springs 
from  success.  A  superb  constitution  fitted  him  to 
endure  the  exposures  of  the  wilderness,  and  to  with- 
stand the  attack  of  scurvy.  To  these  qualities 
and  attainments  may  be  added  unflinching  courage,^ 
both  physical  and  moral. 

Hardly  had  Champlain  reached  Quebec  in  1608/ 
than  he  was  given  a  chance  to  show  his  resolution. 
There  were  in  the  St.  Lawrence  some  traders  irom 
those  Basque  provinces  which  are  situated  on  the 
confines  of  France  and  Spain.  These  men  sought 
to  make  up  a  cargo  of  beaver  skins  in  defiance  of 
the  monopoly  given  by  Henry  IV.  to  De  Monts. 
Trouble  had  arisen  with  them  at  Tadoussac,  and 
shortly  after  Champlain  disembarked  at  Quebec, 
he  discovered  a  mutiny  among  a  section  of  his 
followers.  The  plot  was  to  kill  him  and  place  the 
settlement  in  the  hands  of  the  interloping  Basques. 
After  due  trial  before  a  court  martial,  which  acted 
upon  sworn  evidence,  Duval,  the  ringleader,  was 
sentenced  and  executed.  Three  years  later  Henry 
Hudson,  the  great  English  navigator,  fell  victim 
to  just  such  a  conspiracy  as  that  which  was  nipped 
in  the  bud  at  Quebec. 

At  later  stages  we  shall  consider  the  fortunes 
of  the  colony  which  Champlain  planted  upon  the 
promontory   of   Cape   Diamond.     For   the   present 


68  The  Explorer — Champlain 

it  must  suffice  to  indicate  how  small  was  the  scale 
of  the  enterprise,  and  how  dreadful  were  the  suf- 
ferings of  the  first  settlers.  Out  of  the  twenty-, 
eight,  including  Champlain,  who  remained  at  Que- 
bec when  Pontgrave  sailed  away  in  September  of 
1608,  only  seven,  besides  the  leader,  were  alive  at 
the  beginning  of  the  next  summer.  This  dreadful 
tale  of  mortality  is  not,  however,  by  any  means 
unusual  in  the  annals  of  early  colonisation,  as  may 
be  seen  from  the  experience  of  the  English  in  both 
Virginia  and  Massachusetts.  Swept  by  scurvy, 
and  sparsely  recruited  from  home,  the  colonists  at 
Quebec  remained  a  mere  handful  until  after  the 
first  capture  of  the  place  by  the  Enghsh  in  1629. 
During  this  early  period,  the  most  valuable,  by 
far,  of  the  colonists  were  Louis  Hebert  and  his 
family.  They  alone  took  to  the  land  with  the 
determination  that  they  would  make  it  yield  them 
a  living.  The  rest  had  little  interest  in  the  coun- 
try outside  the  profits  of  the  fur  trade. 

Weak  though  it  was  at  the  outset,  Quebec  fur- 
nished Champlain  with  a  useful  point  of  departure 
for  journeys  into  the  wilderness.  Of  these  the  three 
most  remarkable  were  the  expeditions  of  1609, 
1613,  and  1615.  In  1609  he  discovered  Lake  Cham- 
plain, and  had  his  first  battle  with  the  Iroquois. 
In  1613  he  was  lured  up  the  Ottawa  by  false  infor- 
mation regarding  a  great  body  of  salt  water.  In 
1615  he  joined  forces  with  a  number  of  Algonquins 
and  Hurons  in  an  attempt  to  destroy  the  strong- 
hold of  the  Onondagas.  Each  of  these  expeditions 
merits  some  further  notice. 

Considered   from   one   standpoint,    1609   was   a 


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O 


The  Explorer — Champlain  69 

critical  year  in  the  Ufe  of  the  French  colony,  for 
it  was  then  that  Champlain  took  the  serious  step 
of  attacking  the  Iroquois.  When  one  remembers 
how  this  race  became  the  scourge  of  the  French 
for  almost  a  century,  the  wisdom  of  attacking 
them  may  well  be  challenged.  The  Abbe  Faillon, 
for  example,  has  passed  severe  strictures  on  our 
explorer,  and  even  his  admirer  Charlevoix  thinks 
he  went  too  far  when  he  lead  the  Algonquins  into 
action.  Justin  Winsor  remarks  playfully  that 
Champlain  was  fond  of  a  hunt,  and  neglected  to 
consider  whether  his  game  was  a  squirrel  or  an  Iro- 
quois. For  myself,  I  believe  him  to  have  been! 
swayed  by  general  motives  of  expediency.  The 
Indian  world  was  then  torn  by  a  war  of  Hurons 
and  Algonquins  against  Iroquois.  Now  the  Hurons 
and  Algonquins  inhabited  the  region  from  which 
the  French  drew  their  furs,  and  without  their  helpj 
the  peltry  trade  would  dwindle.  Champlain  doubt- 
less considered  it  good  policy  to  accept  their  prof- 
fered friendship,  and  show  proof  of  his  sincerity 
by  helping  them  against  their  hated  foes.*     Whether 

*The  most  significant  statement  on  this  subject  which  we 
have  from  Champlain  himself  occurs  in  the  Voyage  of  1615, 
where  he  describes  his  motives  in  going  against  the  Onondagas, 
as  the  ally  of  the  tribes  who  came  to  traffic  at  the  Lachine  Rapids 
(Sault  St.  Louis).  "  Whereupon  Sieur  Pontgrave  and  myself  con- 
cluded that  it  was  very  necessary  to  assist  them,  not  only  in 
order  to  put  them  the  more  under  obligations  to  love  us,  but 
also  to  facilitate  my  undertakings  and  explorations  which,  as  it 
seemed,  could  be  accomplished  only  by  their  help,  and  also  as 
this  would  be  a  preparatory  step  to  their  conversion  to  Chris- 
tianity. Therefore  I  resolved  to  go  and  explore  their  country 
and  assist  them  in  their  wars,  in  order  to  oblige  them  to  show 
me  what  they  had  so  many  times  promised  to  do." 


yo  The  Explorer — Champlain 

he  would  have  acted  otherwise  in  the  hght  of  fuller 
information  about  the  Iroquois  than  he  possessed, 
we  can  only  guess.  There  is  no  part  of  his  writ- 
ings which  is  better  worth  reading  than  his  account 
of  how  he  discovered  the  noble  lake  that  bears  his 
name,  and  how  he  routed  his  savage  enemies.  The 
fight  took  place  not  far  from  Carillon  or  Ticonderoga. 
Stepping  out  twenty  paces  in  front  of  his  allies, 
Champlain  in  armour,  with  arquebus  and  plumed 
helmet,  dealt  death  among  the  Iroquois  with  a 
weapon  which  they  then  saw  for  the  first  time. 

But  here  we  must  leave  the  explorer  to  tell 
his  own  story,  for  though  it  oversteps  the  ordinary 
bounds  of  a  quotation,  there  is  no  better  example 
of  Champlain' s  style  in  narrative,  while  the  first 
clash  between  French  and  Iroquois  is,  of  itself, 
a  striking  episode. 

"When  it  was  evening,  we  embarked  in  our 
canoes  to  continue  our  course;  and,  as  we 
advanced  very  quietly  and  without  making  any 
noise,  we  met  on  the  29th  of  the  month  the  Iro- 
quois, about  ten  o'clock  at  evening,  at  the  extrem- 
ity of  a  cape  which  extends  into  the  lake  on  the 
western  bank.  They  had  come  to  fight.  We  both 
began  to  utter  loud  cries,  all  getting  their  arms 
in  readiness.  We  withdrew  out  on  the  water, 
and  the  Iroquois  went  on  shore,  where  they  drew 
up  all  their  canoes  close  to  each  other  and  began 
to  fell  trees  with  poor  axes,  which  they  acquire  in 
war  sometimes,  using  also  others  of  stone.  Thus 
they  barricaded  themselves  very  well. 

"  Our  forces  also  passed  the  entire  night,  their 
canoes  being  drawn  up  close  to  each  other,   and 


The  Explorer — Champlain  71 

fastened  to  poles,  so  that  they  might  not  get  sep- 
arated, and  that  they  might  be  all  in  readiness  to 
fight,  if  occasion  required.  We  were  out  upon 
the  water,  within  arrow  range  of  their  barricades. 
When  they  were  armed  and  in  array,  they  despatched 
two  canoes  by  themselves  to  the  enemy  to  inquire 
if  they  wished  to  fight,  to  which  the  latter  replied 
that  they  wanted  nothing  else;  but  they  said 
that,  at  present,  there  was  not  much  light,  and  that 
it  would  be  necessary  to  wait  for  daylight,  so  as 
to  be  able  to  recognise  each  other;  and  that,  as 
soon  as  the  sun  rose,  they  would  offer  us  battle. 
This  was  agreed  to  by  our  side.  Meanwhile,  the 
entire  night  was  spent  in  dancing  and  singing,  on 
both  sides,  with  endless  insults  and  other  talk; 
as,  how  little  courage  we  had,  how  feeble  a  resist- 
ance we  would  make  against  their  arms,  and  that, 
when  day  came,  we  should  realise  it  to  our  ruin. 
Ours  also  were  not  slow  in  retorting,  telling  them 
they  would  see  such  execution  of  arms  as  never 
before,  together  with  an  abundance  of  such  talk 
as  is  not  unusual  in  the  siege  of  a  town.  After 
this  singing,  dancing,  and  bandying  words  on  both 
sides  to  the  fill,  when  day  came,  my  companions 
and  myself  continued  under  cover,  for  fear  that 
the  enemy  would  see  us.  We  arranged  our  arms 
in  the  best  manner  possible,  being,  however,  sep- 
arated, each  in  one  of  the  canoes  of  the  savage 
Montagnais.  After  arming  ourselves  with  hght 
armour,  we  each  took  an  arquebus  and  went  on 
shore.  I  saw  the  enemy  go  out  of  their  barricade, 
nearly  two  hundred  in  number,  stout  and  robust 
in  appearance.     They  came  at  a  slow  pace  towards 


72  The  Explorer — Champlain 

us,  with  a  dignity  and  assurance  which  greatly 
impressed  me,  having  three  chiefs  at  their  head. 
Our  men  also  advanced  in  the  same  order,  telhng 
me  that  those  who  had  three  large  plumes  were 
the  chiefs,  and  that  they  had  only  these  three,  and 
that  they  could  be  distinguished  by  these  plumes, 
which  were  much  larger  than  those  of  their  com- 
panions, and  that  I  should  do  what  I  could  to  kill 
them.  I  promised  to  do  all  in  my  power,  and 
said  that  I  was  very  sorry  they  could  not  under- 
stand me,  so  that  I  might  give  order  and  shape  to 
their  mode  of  attacking  their  enemies,  and  then 
we  should,  without  doubt,  defeat  them  all;  but 
that  this  could  not  now  be  obviated,  and  that  I 
should  be  very  glad  to  show  them  my  courage  and 
good  will  when  we  should  engage  in  the  light. 

*'As  soon  as  we  had  landed,  they  began  to  run 
for  some  two  hundred  paces  towards  their  enemies, 
who  stood  firmly,  not  having  as  yet  noticed  my 
companions,  who  went  into  the  woods  with  some 
savages.  Our  men  began  to  call  me  with  loud  cries; 
and,  in  order  to  give  me  a  passageway,  they  opened 
in  two  parts,  and  put  me  at  their  head,  where  I 
marched  some  twenty  paces  in  advance  of  the 
rest,  until  I  was  within  about  thirty  paces  of  the 
enemy,  who  at  once  noticed  me,  and,  halting,  gazed 
at  me,  as  I  did  also  at  them.  When  I  saw  them 
making  a  move  to  fire  at  us,  I  rested  my  musket 
against  my  cheek,  and  aimed  directly  at  one  of 
the  three  chiefs.  With  the  same  shot,  two  fell  to 
the  ground;  and  one  of  their  men  was  so  wounded 
that  he  died  some  time  after.  I  had  loaded  my 
musket  with  four  balls.     When  our  side  saw  this 


The  Explorer — Champlain  73 

shot  so  favourable  for  them,  they  began  to  raise 
such  loud  cries  that  one  could  not  have  heard  it 
thunder.  Meanwhile,  the  arrows  flew  on  both 
sides.  The  Iroquois  were  greatly  astonished  that 
two  men  had  been  so  quickly  killed,  although  they 
were  equipped  with  armour  woven  from  cotton 
thread,  and  with  wood  which  was  proof  against 
their  arrows.  This  caused  great  alarm  among 
them.  As  I  was  loading  again,  one  of  my  com- 
panions fired  a  shot  from  the  woods,  which  aston- 
ished them  anew  to  such  a  degree  that,  seeing  their 
chiefs  dead,  they  lost  courage,  and  took  to  flight, 
abandoning  their  camp  and  fort,  and  fleeing  into 
the  woods,  whither  I  pursued  them,  killing  still 
more  of  them.  Our  savages  also  killed  several 
of  them,  and  took  ten  or  twelve  prisoners.  The 
remainder  escaped  with  the  wounded.  Fifteen  or 
sixteen  were  wounded  on  our  side  with  arrow  shots; 
but  they  were  soon  healed. 

"After  gaining  the  victory,  our  men  amused 
themselves  by  taking  a  great  quantity  of  Indian 
corn  and  some  meal  from  their  enemies,  also  their 
armour,  which  they  had  left  behind  that  they  might 
run  better.  After  feasting  sumptuously,  dancing 
and  singing,  we  returned  three  hours  after,  with 
the  prisoners.  The  spot  where  this  attack  took 
place  was  in  latitude  43°  and  some  minutes,  and  the 
lake  was  called  Lake  Champlain."  * 

The  fight  of  1609  was  hardly  more  than  a  skir- 
mish, but  in  1615  Champlain  committed  himself  to 

*  The  passage  quoted  is  taken  from  the  translation  of  Cham- 
plain's  Voyages,  which  was  made  by  the  late  Professor  C.  P.  Otis 
for  the  Prince  Society  of  Boston. 


74  The  Explorer — Champlain 

war  with  the  Iroquois  on  a  grand  scale.  This  does 
not  mean  that  he  led  a  French  army  into  the  woods. 
He  had  only  ten  of  his  fellow  countrymen  \sith  him 
when  the  expedition  began.  But  he  was  accom- 
panied by  a  large  band  of  Indian  allies,  and  the  I 
campaign  was  planned  with  great  care.  It  also 
involved  great  effort  since  the  fort  of  the  Onon- 
dagas,  which  it  was  hoped  to  destroy,  could  not 
safely  be  reached  except  by  a  roundabout  march 
of  more  than  a  thousand  miles.  Worst  of  all  the 
attempt  proved  a  fiasco.  Once  more  Champlain 
and  his  men  did  much  damage  with  their  firearms, 
but  the  Indian  allies  disobeyed  orders,  attacked 
the  fort  too  soon,  and  could  not  be  brought  into  line 
after  the  first  repulse.  To  increase  the  misfortune, 
Champlain  was  wounded  by  an  arrow,  and  suffered 
agonies  in  the  retreat. 

Besides  courage  and  energy,  the  explorer  re- 
quired unconquerable  patience.  The  power  to  bear 
rebuff,  to  suffer  fools  gladly,  and  make  the  best 
of  a  bad  predicament,  was  the  most  serviceable 
endowment  that  he  could  have.  Champlain  en- 
dured countless  checks  and  disappointments ,  from 
the  promoters  of  the  fur  trade.  The  colony  lan- 
guished in  spite  of  all  his  efforts.  The  English 
sailed  up  the  St.  Lawrence  in  1629  and  forced 
him  to  surrender  Quebec.  But  even  remembering 
all  these  things  we  may  still  doubt  whether 
Champlain  was  ever  more  sorely  tried  than  when 
Nicolas  de  Vignau  led  him  up  the  Ottawa  in  search 
of  salt  water  which  did  not  exist.  Vignau  was 
a  young  Frenchman  who  had  come  over  with  Cham- 
plain in  1610,  and  been  permitted  by  him  to  winter 


The  Explorer — Champlain  75 

among  the  Algonquins.  Two  years  later  he  reap- 
peared at  Quebec,  swearing  that  he  had  followed 
the  Ottawa  up  to  a  large  lake,  and  thence  by 
another  stream  reached  a  salt  sea,  where  he  saw 
the  wreck  of  an  English  ship.  Vignau  professed 
a  willingness  to  lead  Champlain  thither,  and  actu- 
ally decoyed  him  to  a  point  far  up  the  Ottawa. 
Then  it  was  learned  from  the  Algonquins  that  when 
Vignau  professed  to  have  been  discovering  salt 
seas,  he  was  quietly  spending  the  wdnter  with  the 
Indians.  Remembering  how  Champlain  longed  to 
find  the  western  passage,  his  heartbreaking  grief 
at  this  fraud  may  be  imagined. 

These  are  but  a  few  of  the  thousand  incidents 
which  filled  the  life  of  Champlain  during  the 
long  period  when  he  was  striving  for  the  develop- 
ment of  French  interests  in  North  America.  The 
capture  of  Quebec  by  the  English  seemed  at 
the  moment  to  destroy  all  his  work.  But  it 
did  not.  When  France  regained  Canada  by  the 
Peace  of  St.  Germain,  no  one  but  Champlain  could 
be  thought  of  as  her  governor,  and  he  returned  to 
end  his  days  with  honour  in  the  colony  which  he 
had  founded.  What  form  his  activity  took  in 
later  days — that  is  to  say  after  he  had  given  over 
the  work  of  exploring  for  that  of  administration — 
we  cannot  pause  to  inquire,  but  certain  aspects 
of  his  career  as  an  explorer  can  be  thrown  into 
high  rehef  by  a  comparison  with  La  Salle. 

New  France  had  many  adventurous  spirits 
among  its  colonists  and  missionaries.  Sagard,  Nico- 
let,  Radisson,  Johet,  Marquette,  and  Du  Lhut  are 
but  a  few  among  those  who  plunged  deep  into  the 


76  The  Explorer — Champlain 

wilderness,  during  the  seventy-five  years  which 
followed  the  founding  of  Quebec.  But  among 
them  all,  not  one  of  Champlain' s  successors  is  so 
distinctively  the  explorer  as  La  Salle.  Radisson 
went  primarily  in  search  of  beaver  skins.  Mar- 
quette was  primarily  interested  in  converting 
savages.  La  Salle  on  the  contrary  was  primarily 
an  explorer.  For  the  conversion  of  the  Indians 
he  cared  nothing.  For  trade  he  cared  something, 
because  he  had  debts  to  pay  and  heavy  expenses 
to  meet.  But  even  more  than  Champlain,  La  Salle 
was  an  explorer.  In  later  life  the  care  of  a  colony 
divided  Champlain's  attention,  whereas  La  Salle 
concentrated  his  effort  upon  solving  the  problem 
of  the  Mississippi. 

Champlain  died  on  Christmas  day,  1635.  La 
Salle  first  came  to  Canada  in  the  spring  of  1666. 
A  full  generation,  therefore,  separates  the  two 
explorers,  and  in  that  time  the  frontier  of  the  known 
had  been  pushed  farther  and  farther  west,  until 
for  geographical  novelties  it  was  necessary  to  go 
beyond  the  St.  Lawrence  basin,  even  beyond  the 
Great  Lakes.  In  Champlain's  day  the  relation 
of  the  Great  Lakes  to  each  other,  and  to  the  valley 
of  the  Ottawa,  was  but  imperfectly  understood' 
In  the  age  of  La  Salle  there  were  French  forts 
or  missions  at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Ontario,  at 
Niagara,  MichiUimackinac,  and  Sault  Ste.  Marie. 
Every  year  traders  or  missionaries  were  passing 
from  Quebec  to  the  pays  d'en  haul — the  back 
country  which  lay  around  the  five  inland  seas. 
The  successive  stages  of  discovery  we  cannot  stop 
to  trace,  but  what  must  be  noted  without  fail  is 


La  Salle 


The  Explorer — Champlain  77 

that  the  efforts  of  Champlain  and  La  Salle  are 
connected  with  totally  different  regions.  La  Salle 
began  not  where  Champlain  left  off,  but  where 
Radisson,  Joliet,  and  Marquette  left  off. 

Above  all  else  the  name  of  La  Salle  is  connected 
with  the  Mississippi.  He  did  not  discover  it.  That 
was  the  achievement  of  Joliet  and  Marquette  in 
1673.*  La  Salle  did  not  begin  his  grand  enterprise 
till  1678,  though  the  scheme  was  in  his  mind  long 
before.  His  earliest  associations  in  Canada  are 
with  Lachine,  where  he  had  a  seigniory,  and  when 
his  imagination  was  first  fired  by  dreams  of  adven- 
ture in  the  wilderness,  his  hope  was  to  find  the 
western  passage.  The  discovery  of  the  Mississippi 
changed  the  line  of  his  ambition.  He  saw  in  fancy 
a  land  far  richer  and  warmer  than  Canada,  watered 
by  a  noble  stream  and  unappropriated  by  any 
European  nation.  To  lay  bare  its  wealth  and  seize 
upon  it  for  France  became  the  dream  of  his  life. 
It  is  through  La  Salle  that  there  grew  up  the  proj- 
ect of  a  French  Empire  in  America,  which  should 
comprise  the  St.  Lawrence,  the  Great  Lakes,  the 
whole  course  of  the  Mississippi,  and  Louisiana  on 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

In  coupling  the  names  of  Champlain  and  La 
Salle,  I  would  single  these  men  out  from  the  other 
French  explorers  in  North  America  as  being  both 
by  spirit  and  accomplishment  the  greatest.  Of 
the  two  La  Salle  has  to  his  credit  the  most  bril- 
liant tour  de  force,  since  no  single  exploit  of  Cham- 
plain equals  in  daring  the  descent  of  the  Mississippi 

*  For  a  discussion  of  the  claim  that  the  Mississippi  was  discov- 
ered by  Groseilliers  and  Radisson,  see  pp.  203-205. 


78  The  Explorer — Champlain 

to  the  Gulf.  Champlain  ran  endless  risks,  but  he 
came  out  of  the  wilderness  alive,  and  ended  his 
hfe  in  peace  and  honour.  La  Salle's  career  is  the 
more  striking  of  the  two,  for  its  lights  and  shadows 
are  in  stronger  contrast.  After  high  hopes  comes 
a  series  of  heartbreaking  disappointments.  Then 
follows  the  one  extraordinary  success.  After  this 
the  bad  luck  returns,  and  the  most  original,  if  the 
most  wayward,  of  the  French  explorers,  is  mur- 
dered by  his  own  companions.* 

*  The  following  account  of  La  Salle's  death  and  character 
is  taken  from  the  Journal  kept  by  Joutel,  who  accompanied 
him  on  his  last  expedition.  At  the  point  where  the  quota- 
tion begins,  La  Salle  has  just  been  firing  at  an  eagle. 

"  The  conspirators,  hearing  the  shot,  concluded  that  it  was 
M.  La  Salle  who  was  come  to  seek  them.  They  made  ready 
their  arms  and  provided  to  surprise  him.  Duhaut  passed  the 
river  with  Larcheveque.  The  first  of  them  spying  M.  La  Salle 
at  a  distance,  as  he  was  coming  towards  them,  advanced  and 
hid  himself  among  the  high  weeds,  to  wait  his  passing  by,  so 
that  M.  La  Salle,  suspecting  nothing,  and  having  not  so  much 
as  charged  his  piece  again,  saw  the  aforesaid  Larcheveque  at 
a  good  distance  from  him,  and  immediately  asked  for  his 
nephew  Morganget,  to  which  Larcheveque  answered  that  he 
was  along  the  river.  At  the  same  time  the  traitor  Duhaut 
fired  his  piece  and  shot  M.  La  Salle  through  the  head,  so  that 
he  dropped  down  dead  on  the  spot,  without  speaking  one 
word. 

"  Father  Anastasius,  who  was  then  by  his  side,  stood  stock- 
still  in  a  fright,  expecting  the  same  fate,  and  not  knowing 
whether  he  should  go  forwards  or  backwards;  but  the  mur- 
derer Duhaut  put  him  out  of  that  dread,  bidding  him  not  to 
fear,  for  no  hurt  was  intended  him;  that  it  was  despair  that 
had  prevailed  with  him  to  do  what  he  saw;  that  he  had  long 
desired  to  be  revenged  on  Morganget,  because  ^e  had  designed 
to  ruin  him,  and  that  he  was  partly  the  occasion  of  his  uncle's 
death.  This  is  the  exact  relation  of  that  murder,  as  it  was 
presently  after  told  me  by  Father  Anastasius. 

"  Such  was  the  unfortunate  end  of  M.  La  Salle's  life,  at  a 


•The  Explorer — Champlain  79 

But  notwithstanding  the  dramatic  interest  of 
La  Salle's  character  and  deeds,  Champlain  deserves 
to  head  the  long  and  honourable  list  of  French  dis- 
coverers. He  had  a  poise  and  self-control  whichj 
La  Salle  lacked.  He  had  a  greater  regard  for  the 
rights  of  others,  and  elicited  a  much  heartier  co- 
operation from  his  associates.  La  Salle  could 
inspire  a  disciple  like  Tonty  with  boundless  devo- 
tion, but  his  arrogance  must  be  called  a  serious 
and  inbred  fault.  It  doubtless  was  a  work  of  gen- 
ius to  annex  for  France  the  whole  Mississippi  val- 
ley, but  schemes  which  depended  for  their  success 
upon  a  disinterested  combination  of  talent  lay 
outside  La  Salle's  powers.  Finally,  Champlain 
worked  well  with  the  Church  while  La  Salle  antag- 
onised at  least  one  important  section  of  the  clergy, 
and  so  damaged  his  cause.  Little  is  gained  by 
setting  the  leaders  of  mankind  in  sharp  antith- 
esis, saying  that  one  is  greater  than  the  other. 
In  the  present  case  I  merely  mean  to  state  that 
Champlain  seems  the  most  effective  of  the  French 

time  when  he  might  entertain  the  greatest  hopes  as  the  reward 
of  his  labours.  He  had  a  capacity  and  talent  to  make  his 
enterprise  successful;  his  constancy  and  courage  and  his 
extraordinary  knowledge  in  arts  and  sciences,  which  rendered 
him  fit  for  anything,  together  with  an  indefatigable  body, 
which  made  him  surmount  all  difficulties,  would  have  pro- 
cured a  glorious  issue  to  his  undertaking,  had  not  all  those 
excellent  qualities  been  counterbalanced  by  too  haughty  a 
behaviour,  which  sometimes  made  him  insupportable,  and 
by  a  rigidness  towards  those  that  were  under  his  command, 
which  at  last  Arew  on  him  an  implacable  hatred,  and  was  the 
occasion  of  his  death." 

By  way  of  contrast,  see  the  account  of  Champlain's  edify- 
ing end  which  Le  Jeune  gives  in  the  Relation  for  1636.  The 
Jesuit  Relations,  edited  by  R.  G.  Thwaites,  vol.  ix,  p.  206. 


8o  The  Explorer — Champlain 

explorers,  and  the  best  rounded  in  character.  His 
stability,  thoroughness,  and  personal  virtues  were 
such  that  Canadians  may  forever  revere  the 
founder  of  New  France. 

In  concluding,  I  cannot  resist  the  temptation 
to  introduce  a  bit  of  history,  which,  besides 
being  quaint  and  not  very  well  known,  has  a 
bearing  upon  the  subject  under  discussion.  One 
useful  thing  about  history  is  that  it  explains  many 
things,  some  trivial  and  some  important,  which 
otherwise  would  remain  unintelligible.  Thus  on 
the  back  of  one's  frockcoat  are  two  buttons,  add- 
ing little  perhaps  to  the  beauty  of  the  garment, 
but  not  placed  there  by  the  vagaries  of  modem 
fashion.  They  are  a  historical  survival  from  days 
when  every  gentleman  wore  his  sword,  and  required 
buttons  to  support  the  belt.  But  what  I  started 
to  speak  about  was  the  dollar  sign,  which  we  write 
every  day  of  our  lives.  It  goes  back  to  this  some- 
what singular  origin.  Prior  to  the  discovery  of 
America,  the  town  of  Seville  in  Spain  had  for  its 
coat  of  arms  a  shield  upon  which  were  blazoned 
the  two  pillars  of  Hercules,  with  the  motto  between, 
Ne  plus  ultra  or  Nee  plus  ultra.  About  thirty 
years  after  Columbus  discovered  America,  Marliani, 
an  Italian  physician,  suggested  to  Charles  V.  that 
he  should  take  over  the  motto  of  Seville  as  his  own 
device,  simply  dropping  the  negative.  Hence  plus 
ultra  or  plus  oultre  (it  was  used  equally  in  Latin 
and  French)  became  the  motto  of  a  Spanish  king. 
Charles  had  it  woven  on  the  sails  of  his  galleons 
and  graven  upon  his  suits  of  armour.  Using  the 
same  device  with  its  special  reference  to  the  New 


The  Explorer — Champlain  8 1 

World,  early  Spanish  writers  on  America,  like  Oviedo, 
Las  Casas,  and  Gomara,  placed  plus  ultra  with  the 
pillars  of  Hercules  upon  the  title  pages  of  their 
books.  Presently  the  same  motto  and  emblem 
began  to  appear  on  the  Spanish  dollars,  or  pieces  of 
eight.  Here  the  device  could  be  indicated  only  in 
miniature.  The  pillars  of  Hercules  became  hardly 
more  than  vertical  strokes  across  which  wound  a 
scroll  enclosing  the  legend  plus  ultra.  Finally 
for  purposes  of  contraction  the  motto  drops  out 
altogether,  the  scroll  being  retained  as  a  kind  of 
letter  S  which  winds  across  two  vertical  lines.  It 
results  that  for  the  origin  of  this  well-known  sym- 
bol, in  daily  use  among  us,  we  are  taken  back  to  the 
arms  borne  by  a  town  in  southern  Spain  long  before 
America  was  known  to  Europe. 

The  foregoing  story  is  here  told,  not  simply 
because  it  is  singular  in  itself,  but  because  plus 
ultra — more  beyond — is  the  true  motto  of  every 
individual  explorer.  Francis  Bacon,  who,  hke 
Newton,  voyaged  through  strange  seas  of  thought 
alone,  placed  plus  ultra  upon  the  title  page  of  the 
Advancement  of  Learning.  It  was  in  the  spirit  of 
this  motto  that  Champlain  pierced  to  Lake  Huron, 
and  La  Salle  floated  down  the  current  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi. Plus  ultra — More  beyond.  What  watch- 
word bears  a  stronger  stimulus,  a  nobler  incentive 
than  this  to  the  nation  or  to  the  human  soul? 


CHAPTER  in 

THE  MISSIONARY— BREBEUF 

WHEN  Columbus  first  unfolded  his  great  proj- 
ect to  Isabella  of  Castile,  he  included  among 
his  chief  arguments  the  possibiHty  of  converting 
new  races  to  the  Christian  faith.  This  was  not  a 
subsidiary  part  of  his  scheme.  It  stood  in  the  very 
forefront  of  the  enterprise  which  he  outlined  to 
the  Spanish  court.  Columbus  was  not  thinking 
of  savages  in  general,  the  mere  barbarians  whom 
he  might  chance  to  meet.  Sailing  for  the  Far 
East,  he  proposed  nothing  less  than  the  conversion 
of  the  Grand  Khan  of  Tartary.  At  present  this 
proposal  may  sound  fantastic,  but  with  Isabella 
the  Cathohc  it  carried  weight.  Consequently 
when  Columbus  was  starting  upon  his  first  voyage, 
letters  of  introduction  to  the  Grand  Khan  were 
given  him  by  the  Spanish  crown. 

The  note  thus  sounded  at  the  outset  continued 
to  ring  in  the  ears  of  Catholic  Europe  all  through 
the  age  of  discovery  and  colonisation.  To  glorify 
God  by  the  conversion  of  native  races  became  a 
prime  object  with  pious  sovereigns,  and  with  the 
Latin  Church  in  general.  For  a  variety  of  reasons 
the  Protestant  churches  were  less  active  in  this 
work   than   members   of   the   Roman   communion. 

It  is  not  that  their  comparative  apathy  concern- 

82 


The  Missionary — Brebeuf  83 

ing  the  salvation  of  the  heathen  should  be  ascribed 
altogether  to  a  lower  degree  of  spiritual  force  than 
existed  in  the  Catholic  Church.  For  one  thing, 
the  Protestants  had  to  put  forth  a  vast  amount 
of  effort  in  securing  their  own  position  at  home. 
Secondly,  they  lacked  the  machinery  for  mission 
work  which  was  provided  by  the  presence  in  the 
Cathohc  Church  of  religious  orders  like  the  Domin- 
icans, the  Franciscans,  and  the  Jesuits.  And  finally, 
their  theological  views  were  of  a  type  which,  though 
not  discouraging  missions,  encouraged  them  less 
directly  than  did  the  doctrines  of  the  Catholics. 
What  one  has  most  in  mind  is  this.  The  Protes- 
tants rejected  the  sacramental  scheme  of  salvation 
which  Europe  had  accepted  for  many  centuries 
before  the  time  of  Luther,  and  by  rejecting  it  they 
placed  a  different  emphasis  upon  baptism.  The 
Catholic  missionary  who  baptised  an  infant  Iro- 
quois sick  unto  death  was  convinced  that  he  had 
saved  a  soul  from  perdition.  On  the  other  hand 
the  Calvinist  missionary  had  no  such  confidence, 
inasmuch  as  his  theology  was  less  reassuring  on 
this  point.  Even  among  the  baptised,  those  only 
were  saved  whom  God  predestined  to  salvation. 
Here  we  have  a  difference  of  outlook  that  could 
not  fail  to  affect  the  attitude  of  Catholic  and  Prot- 
estant towards  missions.  Though  he  failed  with 
adults,  the  Catholic  missionary  might  hope  to 
effect  the  regeneration  of  infants  by  the  score  or 
the  hundred.  The  Calvinist,  accepting  predestina- 
tion, had  a  less  strong  incentive  to  give  his  reli- 
gious activities  this  particular  bent. 

One   says  "the  Calvinist,"  in   contrast   to  the 


84  The  Missionary — Brebeuf 

Catholic,  because  Lutheranism  was  confined  to 
Germany  and  Scandinavia,  which  were  not  colonis- 
ing countries.  Of  the  Protestants,  those  who  went 
over  seas  belonged  with  few  exceptions  to  the 
Reformed  or  Calvinistic  Church,  like  the  Huguenots, 
the  Dutch,  and  the  Puritans.  While  on  this  subject 
I  might  point  out  that  the  Calvinists  did  not  wholly 
neglect  the  task  of  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the 
aborigines.  The  Dutch  pastors  claimed  to  have  made 
three  hundred  thousand  conversions  in  the  East 
Indies.  John  Eliot  founded  an  Indian  Church  at 
Natick  in  Massachusetts,  translated  the  Bible  into 
Indian  dialect,  and  gave  up  his  whole  life  to 
missionary  effort.  It  was  among  the  first  func- 
tions of  Harvard  College  to  train  ministers  for 
work  among  the  savages,  and  to  educate  those 
of  them  who  could  be  brought  into  the  way 
of  higher  learning.  Dartmouth  College  in  New 
Hampshire  was  by  origin  a  missionary  institution. 
Clearly  the  Calvinists  considered  that  they  had 
a  duty  in  the  matter,  and  made  some  attempt  to 
perform  it.  But  when  all  possible  allowance  has 
been  made  for  circumstance  and  difference  of  theo- 
logical outlook,  Protestant  missions  in  the  age  of 
colonisation  are  a  small,  indeed  a  puny,  thing  com- 
pared with  the  mighty  missions  of  the  Roman 
Church.  The  English  and  the  Dutch  went  to 
the  East  Indies  for  spices,  and  not  for  souls.  From 
what  we  know  regarding  the  attitude  of  the  Dutch 
towards  lower  races,  one  has  grave  doubts  about 
the  three  hundred  thousand  converts  the  Dutch 
pastors  reported  that  they  had  made.  As  for  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  though  they  were  directed  to  Ply- 


The  Missionary — Brebeuf  85 

mouth  by  a  reUgious  motive,  it  was  no  part  of  their 
original  purpose  to  convert  the  savages.  With 
the  Cathohcs  of  Europe,  on  the  contrary,  mission 
work  was  among  the  foremost  causes  of  colonial 
enterprise.  Not  even  the  love  of  gold  mines  was 
sufficient  to  obscure  it. 

What  could  the  Aztecs,  the  Incas,  and  the  in- 
habitants of  the  Spice  Islands  have  thought,  when 
they  saw  the  Christian  nations  bringing  them  the 
scourge  in  one  hand,  and  the  Gospel  in  the  other? 
The  wrongs  that  the  native  races  of  both  hemi- 
spheres suffered  from  the  trader  and  the  viceroy 
cannot  be  spoken.  Pillage,  torture,  enslavement, 
and  a  hundred  forms  of  low  brutality  were  meted 
out  to  the  unfortunate  aborigines  by  one  class 
of  the  conquerors.  Then  came  people  of  the  same 
race  to  bind  up  wounds,  preach  peace  and  mercy, 
educate  and  humanise.  The  first  thing  an  intel- 
hgent  missionary  did  was  to  get  the  natives  as 
completely  as  possible  under  his  control.  The 
Jesuits  in  Paraguay  and  in  Canada  were  accused 
of  ambition,  of  claiming  exclusive  rights  over  their 
converts.  But  in  the  main  the  missionary  stood 
between  the  savage  and  the  worst  forms  of  oppres- 
sion. It  is  in  the  case  of  the  Spaniards  that  the 
contrast  stands  out  most  violently.  Consider  the 
difference  between  the  brutal  Conquistador es  of 
Mexico  and  Peru,  and  the  good  Las  Casas  who 
won  the  title,  "Universal  Protector  of  the  Indians." 
Nowhere  in  colonial  annals  is  there  anything  worse 
than  Spanish  rapacity  and  its  consequences.  No- 
where is  there  anything  nobler  than  the  unselfish- 
ness, the  humanity  of  Las  Casas. 


86  The  Missionary — Brebeuf 

The  missionary  activities  of  the  Catholic  Church 
were  prosecuted  almost  altogether  by  the  great  reli- 
gious orders,  some  of  which  had  been  founded  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  while  others  had  their  birth  in 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries.  Chief 
among  those  orders  of  mediaeval  origin  which 
entered  the  mission  field  outside  Europe  were  the 
Franciscans  and  the  Dominicans.  Of  the  newer 
orders  the  Jesuits,  founded  in  1534  by  Ignatius 
Loyola,  were  far  the  most  conspicuous.*  The 
Capuchins  and  the  RecoUets  were  sixteenth-cen- 
tury orders  based  upon  Franciscanism.  The  Sul- 
picians  who  had  so  much  to  do  with  missionary 
effort  about  Montreal,  were  an  order  of  secular 
priests  dating  from  the  middle  years  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.  These  powerful  rehgious  broth- 
erhoods, whose  members  had  no  parochial  duties, 
were  in  an  excellent  position  to  take  up  special 
labours  among  the  heathen  at  the  ends  of  the  earth,  f 
The  same  sort  of  work  which  the  Irish  and  the 
Benedictine  monks  had  wrought  in  Europe  during 
the  Dark  Ages,  other  orders  now  undertook  in 
the  New  World. 

Among  the  missions  thus  founded,  those  of 
the  Jesuits  were  by  far  the  most  numerous,  the 
most  active,  and  the  most  effective.  Regard- 
ing the  history  of  the  Jesuits  in  Europe,  it  is  not 

*The  Society  of  Jesus  really  dates  from  the  vow  of  Mont- 
martre,  1534.  Its  formal  organisation  and  recogriition  by  the 
Holy  See  are  to  be  connected  with  Paul  III.'s  Bull.,  Regimini 
militantis  Ecclesia,  Sept.  27,  1540. 

t  The  Sulpicians,  though  here  mentioned  together  with  the 
Capuchins,  the  R^collets,  and  the  Jesuits,  discharged  parochial 
duties  in  addition  to  their  labours  as  missionaries. 


The  Missionary — Brebeuf  87 

necessary  that  one  should  speak  in  detail.  They 
came  into  being  at  a  time  of  acute  religious  friction, 
and  were  impressed  by  their  founder  with  a  more 
militant  spirit  than  marked  any  other  religious 
fraternity  in  Christendom.  Striving,  in  the  terms 
of  their  own  motto,  for  "the  greater  glory  of  God," 
they  opposed  the  heresy  of  Lutheran  and  the  Cal- 
vinist  with  uncompromising  hostility.  An  equal 
determination  they  displayed  in  the  mission  field, 
from  the  very  moment  of  their  institution.  Here 
the  outstanding  name  is  that  of  St.  Francis  Xavier. 
Eight  years  after  the  first  little  band  of  Jesuits  had 
taken  its  famous  vow  at  Montmartre,  Xavier  landed 
at  Goa,  the  capital  of  the  Portuguese  possessions  in 
India.  Proceeding  thence  he  began  those  efforts 
which  extended  Jesuit  influence  to  the  Far  East, 
and  opened  up  the  long  course  of  Jesuit  missions. 
His  deeds  in  Cochin,  Madura,  and  Travancore  were 
known  to  the  world  at  a  time  when  his  European 
brethern  were  just  emerging  from  obscurity,  and 
when  he  died  at  San  Chan  the  noblest  field  of  Jesuit 
enterprise  had  been  disclosed.  Charles  Legobien 
exclaims  at  the  beginning  of  the  Lettres  Ediflantes: 
"From  the  time  of  St.  Ignatius  and  of  St.  Francis 
Xavier,  the  zeal  for  foreign  missions  has  been,  as 
it  were,  the  soul  and  spirit  of  our  Society."  The 
Apostle  to  the  Indies  remained  for  the  Jesuits  the 
supreme  type  of  missionary  hero,  and  the  mem- 
bers of  the  order  in  Canada  drew  daily  inspiration 
from  his  example.  "A  thousand  times,"  says 
one  of  them,  "the  thought  of  St.  Francis  Xavier 
passes  through  our  minds  and  has  great  power 
over  us." 


88  The  Missionary— Brebeuf 

The  earliest  of  the  Jesuits  who  followed  thej 
flag  of  France  to  the  shores  of  North  America  | 
were  Pierre  Biard  and  Ennemond  Masse.  They 
landed  at  Port  Royal  in  1611,  afterwards  went 
to  St.  Sauveur  on  Mt.  Desert  Island,  and  were 
living  among  the  Indians  at  that  point  when  Argall 
and  a  band  of  Englishmen  from  Virginia  swooped 
down  upon  the  settlement,  broke  it  up  and  sent 
the  Jesuits  back  to  France.  This  iU-starred  adven- 
ture in  Acadia  was  not,  however,  to  deter  the  Society 
from  beginning  operations  in  Canada  at  the  first 
opportunity.  What  without  fail  should  be  made 
clear  is  that  the  Jesuits  had  behind  them  a  long 
record  of  experience  and  success  in  mission  work, 
before  ever  Biard  and  Masse  came  to  Acadia. 
Seventy  years  had  elapsed  since  St.  Francis  Xav- 
ier  sailed  for  Goa,  and  in  the  interval  they  had 
learned  much.  From  a  close  study  of  the  savage 
mind  they  knew  how  primitive  races  must  be 
approached.  Their  methods  were  fixed.  Xavier 
and  his  immediate  followers  had  taught  them  how 
to  proceed  in  dealing  with  tribes  whose  language 
they  did  not  speak,  and  whose  cast  of  mind  was 
stiU  unfamiliar  to  them.  In  short,  before  the  Jes- 
uits turned  towards  Canada,  their  experience 
embraced  India,  the  Malay  Archipelago,  Japan 
and  China,  Mexico  and  Peru,  Brazil  and  Paraguay. 

To  sum  up  what  has  just  been  said,  the  CathoHc 
missions  during  the  colonial  era  were  more  impor- 
tant than  the  Protestant,  the  Catholic  mission- 
aries came  from  the  religious  orders,  and  among 
the  religious  orders  the  Jesuits  loomed  largest  in 
the  mission  fields  of  both  East  and  West.     In  Can- 


The  Missionary — Brebeuf  89 

ada,  however,  the  Jesuits  were  not  alone.  They 
had  for  associates  and  rivals  the  two  other  orders 
of  Recollets  and  Sulpicians.  One  does  not  care 
to  accentuate  the  idea  of  rivalry,  but  competition 
did  form  a  certain  element  in  the  relations  of 
the  three  orders.  This  can  be  seen  from  a  large 
variety  of  evidence,  some  of  which  may  be  touched 
upon  later.  In  the  meantime  all  one  need  say 
is  that  the  Jesuit  missions  had  more  permanent 
vitality  than  those  of  the  Recollets,  and  covered 
a  wider  area  than  those  of  the  Sulpicians.  Fur- 
thermore, there  exists  in  connection  with  the  Jesuit 
missions  a  body  of  literature  which  enables  us  to 
follow  their  progress  as  we  cannot  follow  the 
progress  of  either  Recollets  or  Sulpicians.  I  refer 
to  the  Relations  des  J^suites,  a  series  of  documents 
that  possesses  the  greatest  value,  not  only  for  the 
conversion  of  the  savages,  but  for  their  customs 
and  for  the  general  history  of  the  colony. 

Before  discussing  the  Jesuit  Relations  as  litera- 
ture, it  will  be  well  to  see  at  what  point  the  Recol- 
lets and  Sulpicians  enter  the  life  of  New  France. 
How  the  Jesuits  came  to  Acadia  in  1611  we  already 
know.  But  there  were  only  two  of  them,  and  those 
two  were  sent  back  to  France  by  the  English  in 
1613.  This  was  five  years  after  the  founding  of 
Quebec,  but  the  Jesuits  driven  out  of  Acadia  did 
not  at  once  transfer  their  efforts  to  Canada.  Cham- 
plain  was  extremely  anxious  to  bring  over  mis- 
sionaries, that  the  Indians  might  be  christianised 
and  civilised  at  the  same  time.  He  did  not, 
however,  approach  the  Jesuits  until  after  he  had 
enlisted  a   band  of  Recollets  and  sent  them  out 


90  The  Missionary — Brebeuf 

among  the  Hurons.  It  was  in  1615  that  the 
first  of  these  missionaries,  four  in  number,  reached 
Quebec,  and  plunged  into  the  task  of  redeeming 
the  Indians  from  their  native  superstitions.  On 
the  whole  the  fruits  of  the  RecoUet  mission  were 
disappointing,  though  through  no  fault  of  the  indi- 
viduals who  represented  the  order  in  Canada.  The 
effort  of  those  who  remained  on  the  shores  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  was  largely  absorbed  in  strife  with 
Huguenot  fur  traders.  Those  who  went  to  the 
Huron  country  found  it  impossible  to  procure 
interpreters,  and  could  only  learn  the  language 
bit  by  bit,  at  great  pains.  So  trying  were  the 
obstacles  that  after  ten  years  the  Recollets  felt 
quite  ready  to  welcome  assistance.  Accordingly 
when  the  Jesuits  offered  aid  it  was  accepted  in  a 
friendly  spirit.  Some  rivalry  between  the  orders 
sprang  up  when  they  were  brought  side  by 
side  in  Canada.  But  it  was  not  of  long  duration. 
After  the  capture  of  Quebec  by  the  English  in  1629, 
both  Jesuits  and  Recollets  left  the  country.  As 
soon  as  Canada  was  restored  to  France  by  the  Peace 
of  St.  Germain  (1632),  the  Jesuits  returned^  but 
the  Recollets  never  re-established  their  mission 
among  the  Hurons.  At  intervals  between  1632 
and  1642  there  was  talk  of  their  return,  but  they 
did  not  come  back  until  1670.  The  Jesuits  were 
thus  left  in  full  possession  until  the  appearance 
of  the  Company  which  founded  Montreal.  After 
1642  there  are  two  distinct  headquarters  of  mis- 
sionary enterprise:  Quebec,  where  the  Jesuits 
reigned  supreme,  and  Montreal,  which  became  the 
home    of    the    Sulpicians.     The    exact    relation    of 


The  Missionary — Brebeuf  91 

the  Sulpicians  to  the  founders  of  Montreal  we  shall 
examine  presently. 

The  first  band  of  Jesuits  to  land  at  Quebec 
disembarked  in  June,  1625,  twelve  years  after  the 
Jesuit  mission  in  Acadia  had  been  broken  up,  and 
ten  years  after  the  arrival  of  the  RecoUets  in  Can- 
ada. The  party  contained  four  members,  of  whom 
two  were  destined  to  become  famous  among  the 
Jesuits  of  Canada.  These  were  Jean  de  Brebeuf 
and  Charles  Lalemant.  Lalemant  was  a  very 
clever  linguist  and  enjoyed  some  repute  as  a  writer, 
but  from  the  three  hundred  and  twenty  Jesuits 
who  first  and  last  laboured  in  Canada  under  the 
Old  Regime,  I  would  single  out  Jean  de  Brebeuf 
as  the  central,  the  commanding  figure.  The 
grounds  upon  which  one  would  justify  such  an 
opinion  are  these.  In  the  first  place,  Brebeuf  was 
a  perfect  type  of  the  Norman,  and  Normandy  con- 
tributed to  New  France  her  strongest  strain  of 
blood.  Brebeuf  was  born  in  the  diocese  of  Bayeux 
and  entered  the  Jesuit  order  at  Rouen.  But  he 
was  not  merely  a  Norman  by  birth.  He  was  a 
Norman  by  firmness  of  character,  by  inflexibility  of 
resolve .  How  superb  was  his  physical  courage  we  shall 
soon  see,  and  for  determination  he  might  have  stood 
in  direct  line  of  descent  from  William  the  Conqueror. 
He  was  of  gentle  birth.  One  of  his  ancestors  had 
fought  at  Hastings;  another  had  commanded  the 
Norman  nobles  at  the  siege  of  Damietta,  in  the  first 
crusade  of  St.  Louis.  A  still  better  idea  of  his 
ancestry  may  be  conveyed  in  saying  that  from  the 
English  branch  of  the  family  is  descended  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  the  premier  duke  of  the  United  Kingdom. 


92  The  Missionary — Brebeuf 

Jean  de  Brebeuf  was  a  man  of  magnificent 
stature,  nobility  of  mind,  and  complete  self-control. 
Rochemonteix,  the  official  historian  of  the  Jesuits 
in  New  France,  says  that  he  had  in  him  the  spirit 
of  Francis  Xavier.  Suite,  who  is  by  no  means  an 
official  historian  of  the  Jesuits,  seems  hardly  less 
emphatic  when  he  writes:  "The  name  of  Brebeuf 
is  surrounded  by  an  aureole  of  greatness  which  time 
can  never  diminish."  In  the  annals  of  the  Ursu- 
lines  at  Quebec  he  is  styled  "the  personification 
of  greatness  and  courage.''  Parkman,  to  take  a 
writer  of  still  another  type,  exhausts  the  vocabu- 
lary of  praise  in  describing  his  deeds.  "In  Bre- 
beuf," says  Parkman,  "an  enthusiastic  devotion 
was  grafted  on  an  heroic  nature.  His  bodily 
endowments  were  as  remarkable  as  the  temper  of 
his  mind.  His  manly  proportions,  his  strength 
and  his  endurance,  which  incessant  fasts  and  pen- 
ances could  not  undermine,  had  always  won  for 
him  the  respect  of  the  Indians,  no  less  than  a  cour- 
age unconscious  of  fear,  and  yet  redeemed  from 
rashness  by  a  cool  and  vigorous  judgment." 

These  are  but  a  few  of  the  abundantly  numer- 
ous panegyrics  which  Brebeuf  by  his  life  and 
death  has  extorted  from  writers  of  every  school. 
It  is  not  to  every  saint  or  even  to  every  martyr 
that  the  quick  sympathy  of  the  modern  layman 
goes  out,  but,  as  Kipling  has  said  in  one  of  his  most 
animated  ballads: 

"But  there  is  neither  East  nor  West, 
Border  nor  breed  nor  birth, 
When  two  brave  men  stand  face  to  face. 

Though  they  come  from  the  ends  of  the  earth." 


The  Missionary — Brebeuf  93 

In  matters  of  religious  conviction  one  may 
stand  at  the  ends  of  the  earth  from  Brebeuf,  but 
it  is  impossible  not  to  feel  the  sense  of  power  which 
radiates  from  his  robust,  self-sacrificing  personality. 
If  we  may  believe  Frederick  Myers,  there  are  only 
two  kinds  of  people  that  men  of  the  world  will 
listen  to;  namely,  other  men  of  the  world  and 
saints.  Now  Brebeuf  is  exactly  the  type  of  saint 
whom  the  man  of  the  world  can  understand  and 
reverence — not  a  plaster  saint  whose  human  robust- 
ness has  suffered  at  the  hands  of  other-worldly  aspi- 
ration, but  a  flesh  and  blood  being  who  can  dare 
and  suffer  what  most  heroes  would  shrink  from  in 
horror.  For  some  reasons  it  may  seem  unjust  to 
place  Brebeuf,  as  the  representative  Jesuit  martyr, 
before  Isaac  Jogues.  But  on  the  whole  his  claims 
are  greater.  Jogues,  indeed,  appeals  to  us  at  one 
point  even  more  irresistibly  than  Brebeuf,  because 
he  had  more  obstacles  of  nature  to  overcome. 
It  is  said  that  life  resembles  a  game  of  cards. 
The  credit  comes  not  so  much  from  playing  a  good 
hand  well,  as  from  making  the  most  out  of  a  bad 
hand.  Nature  gave  Brebeuf  a  large  and  generous 
disposition,  amplitude  of  outlook,  vigour,  nobility. 
Jogues  had  a  quick  temper  and  was  physically 
timid.  The  following  reference  to  this  weakness 
of  the  flesh  comes  from  the  pen  of  Jerome  Lale- 
mant,  one  of  the  leading  Jesuits  at  Quebec,  and 
is  to  be  found  in  the  annual  report,  or  Relation ^ 
for  1647.  "He  was,"  says  Lalemant,  of  Jogues, 
"quite  timid,  which  highly  exalts  his  courage  and 
shows  that  his  constancy  came  from  above.  He 
saw  in  a  moment  all  the  difficulties  which  might 


94  The  Missionary — Brebeuf 

occur  in  a  matter,  and  he  felt  the  hurt  naturally 
caused  by  them.  This  kept  him  in  profound  humil- 
ity and  made  him  say  that  he  was  only  a  coward; 
and  yet  the  Superiors  who  knew  him  depended  on 
him  as  firmly  as  on  a  rock."  And  well  they  might 
depend  on  Jogues.  Having  been  terribly  tortured 
by  the  Iroquois,  the  Dutch  saved  him  from  destruc- 
tion and  sped  him  on  his  way  to  France.  There  his 
sufferings  brought  him  such  renown  that  the  Queen 
Regent,  Anne  of  Austria,  summoned  him  to  court 
and  kissed  the  lacerated  stumps  of  his  fingers.  To 
be  tortured  once  by  the  Iroquois  might  well  have 
seemed  enough,  but  after  recovering  his  health 
somewhat  Jogues  returned  to  them  and  suffered 
martyrdom  in  their  midst.  His  attitude  towards 
his  tormentors  is  expressed  by  Lalemant  in  these 
words:  "Never  did  he  feel  in  the  midst  of  his 
sufferings,  or  in  the  greatest  cruelties  of  those 
treacherous  people  any  aversion  against  them. 
He  looked  at  them  with  an  eye  of  compassion  as 
a  mother  looks  at  a  child  of  hers  stricken  with  a 
raging  disease.  At  other  times  he  regarded  them 
as  rods  which  our  Lord  employed  for  punishing 
his  crimes." 

In  point  of  courage  and  constancy,  then,  Bre- 
beuf cannot  be  called  supreme  among  the  Jesuits, 
since  Jogues  possessed  moral  courage  of  the 
toughest  fibre,  producing  physical  courage  by  the 
sheer  dominance  of  soul  over  body.  But  Brebeuf 
had  the  more  vitality,  the  more  effectiveness,  the 
more  power.  He  was  a  pillar  of  strength  for  the 
whole  mission,  a  landmark  to  be  seen  from  afar, — 
by  the  Indians  in  their  forests,  no  less  by  the  Jesuit 


The  Missionary — Brebeuf  95 

brethren  from  their  central  house  of  Notre  Dame 
des  Anges  at  Quebec.  Goethe  said  that  the  older 
he  grew  the  more  he  prized  the  gifts  which  were 
God-given,  and  much  as  we  may  value  the  virtue 
of  plodding,  mankind  naturally  bows  before  the 
man  who  leads  by  the  grace  of  God,  by  natural 
faculty.  Brebeuf  was  of  this  sort,  and,  besides, 
he  stands  at  the  head  of  the  most  important  mis- 
sion which  the  Jesuits  founded  in  North  America 
— the  mission  to  the  Hurons. 

The  Hurons  were  not  so  numerous  as  the  Five 
Nations  of  the  Iroquois  taken  together,  but  they 
were  far  more  numerous  than  any  one  of  the  five 
nations.  Probably  there  were  from  ten  to  fifteen 
thousand  Hurons  as  against  seventeen  thousand 
of  the  Iroquois.  Man  for  man  the  Iroquois  were 
stronger  in  war,  and  from  their  relations  with  the 
French,  Dutch,  and  English  they  reach  an  histor- 
ical eminence  which  the  Hurons  do  not  share.  In 
their  country,  too,  the  Jesuits  had  singular  adven- 
tures and  conducted  their  mission  on  a  large  scale. 
The  double  sacrifice  of  Jogues,  the  daring  journey 
of  Le  Moyne,  and  the  hairbreadth  escape  of  the 
Fathers  from  the  Onondaga  country — these  are 
exploits  which  it  is  difficult  to  surpass  even  among 
the  records  of  the  Jesuits.  But  still  the  classical 
period  of  their  work  in  North  America  comes 
between  1632  and  1649.  The  mission  to  the  Hurons 
depicts  every  soul-stirring  feature  of  Jesuit  life 
among  the  Indians,  plus  the  added  attraction  of 
novelty.  The  struggle  with  the  language  diffi- 
culty ending  in  success,  the  struggle  with  suspi- 
cion ending  in  partial   success,   the  struggle  with 


g6  The  Missionary — Brebeuf 

savage  unbelief  and  malevolence  ending  at  best 
in  partial  failure,  the  alterations  of  hope  and 
despair;  all  these  trials  and  excitements  mount 
to  a  dreadful  tragedy,  the  overthrow  of  a  nation, 
and  the  ruin  of  a  church  which  the  Jesuits  had 
created  amid  blood  and  tears.  The  modem  reader, 
at  least,  does  not  find  the  same  freshness  of  interest 
in  the  record  of  subsequent  work  among  the  Iro- 
quois, who  destroyed  the  Hurons,  as  in  the  story 
of  early  struggles  against  the  barbarism  and  super- 
stition of  the  Hurons. 

Now  Brebeuf  is  the  leader  and  hero  of  the  Huron 
mission,  and  St.  Ignace,  the  spot  where  he  suf- 
fered martyrdom,  comes  within  what  is  now  the 
County  of  Simcoe.  Fortunately  we  have  an  abun- 
dance of  information  regarding  this  episode,  and, 
in  fact,  regarding  all  the  Jesuit  missions  in  Canada 
between  1632  and  1673.  During  these  years  there 
appeared  from  the  press  of  Sebastian  Cramoisy  at 
Paris,  the  long  series  of  Jesuit  Relations  which  is 
so  invaluable  for  the  light  it  throws  upon  both 
Indian  customs  and  the  hfe  of  New  France.  To 
understand  the  nature  of  these  volumes  we  must 
go  back  to  the  earliest  days  of  the  Jesuit  order — 
to  the  lifetime  of  Xavier  himself.  Writing  to 
Gaspard  Barzee,  in  charge  of  the  mission  at  Ormuz, 
he  says:  "You  will  send  periodical  letters  to  the 
college  at  Goa,  wherein  are  set  forth  the  various 
labours  which  you  undertake  to  secure  the  increase 
of  the  divine  glory,  the  methods  which  you  follow, 
and  the  spiritual  results  with  which  God  crowns 
your  feeble  efforts."  And  Xavier  instructs  Beira, 
another  of  his  subordinates,  to  inform  Loyola  and 


The  Missionary — Brebeuf  97 

Rodriguez  of  everything  "which,  when  known  in 
Europe,  will  lead  the  hearer  to  glorify  God." 

In  compliance  with  these  instructions,  Jesuit 
missionaries  had  been  sending  home  to  Europe 
reports  upon  their  work  for  over  eighty  years  before 
Brebeuf  first  went  to  the  Huron  country.  There 
is  a  large  body  of  this  literature  in  the  Lettres 
Edifiantes  and  elsewhere.  The  confessed  object  of 
the  Jesuit  Relations  was  edification,  but  in  addi- 
tion to  details  concerning  the  mission,  a  vast  num- 
ber of  facts  were  included  which  bore  upon  the 
life  of  the  natives,  the  aspect  of  the  New  World, 
its  birds,  its  animals,  its  fish,  the  life  of  the  French 
in  their  Canadian  home,  and  other  miscellaneous 
subjects  that  inevitably  came  up  for  discussion. 
It  is  not  to  be  pretended  that  the  Relations  con- 
tained the  whole  truth  concerning  Jesuit  work  in 
Canada.  Side  by  side  with  them  there  went  home 
to  Europe  private  letters  designed  for  members 
of  the  Society.  These,  as  Father  de  Rochemon- 
teix  points  out,  are  the  natural  complement  to 
the  Relations.  They  depict  the  dark  side  of  the 
mission,  the  discouragements  and  failures,  the  mood 
which  is  created  by  reaction  from  an  undue  con- 
fidence. ''The  Relations,"  wrote  Father  Claude 
Boucher  to  Father  Bagot  in  1663,  "say  only  good, 
and  the  letters  only  bad."  "The  Relations,"  he 
continues,  "should  not  be  read  with  the  idea  that 
they  say  everything,  but  merely  what  is  edifying." 

Such  in  scope  and  purport  are  the  Relations 
des  J^suites,  which  with  allied  documents  Mr. 
Thwaites  has  recently  pubUshed  in  a  definitive 
edition  of  seventy- three  volumes.     Their  chief  limi- 


98  The  Missionary — Brebeuf 

tation  is  that  they  are  marked  by  a  note  of  undue 
optimism.  The  success  of  the  mission  is  the  first 
thought.  Whatever  retards  it  is  suffered  to  drop 
out  of  sight.  But  even  when  we  have  subtracted 
something  from  their  value  on  this  score,  they 
remain  our  best  authority  for  the  hfe  of  the  Indians, 
and  an  indispensable  authority  for  the  life  of  the 
colony.  To  take  a  single  striking  example,  the 
Abbe  Faillon,  in  his  Histoire  de  la  Colonie  Franfaise, 
champions  Montreal  at  the  expense  of  Quebec, 
and  the  Sulpicians  at  the  expense  of  the  Jesuits. 
Despite  this  animus  he  cannot  refrain  from  citing 
the  Relations  on  almost  every  page,  and  in  the  aggre- 
gate they  are  the  largest  single  source  from  which 
he  draws. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  time  that  Bre- 
beuf passed  among  the  Hurons,  the  superior  of 
the  Jesuits  in  Canada  was  Paul  Le  Jeune.  Le 
Jeune  made  his  headquarters  at  Quebec,  received 
reports  from  the  different  missions,  and  based  upon 
them  the  annual  report,  or  Relation,  which  was  sent 
to  the  Provincial  of  the  Jesuits  at  Paris.  In  many 
cases  the  identity  of  the  individual  missionary  is 
lost,  as  the  Relation  sweeps  in  materials  from  eight 
or  ten  scattered  districts.  But  the  reports  from 
the  Huron  country  had  special  importance,  and 
there  exist  many  of  the  letters  which  Brebeuf  sent 
either  to  Quebec,  or  to  leading  members  of  the  Society 
in  Europe.  These  are  among  the  most  living  docu- 
ments of  that  period — fresh,  direct,  and  entertain- 
ing. One  of  the  best  is  the  letter  of  1635,  in  which 
Brebeuf  describes  his  return  to  the  Hurons.  He 
had  been  among  them  before  the  Jesuit  mission 


The  Missionary — Brebeuf  99 

was  broken  up  by  Kirke's  capture  of  Quebec.  His 
account  of  the  steps  which  the  Jesuits  took  to  re- 
estabhsh  their  hold  over  the  Hurons  when  the 
French  came  back  to  Canada,  is  as  graphic  as  any- 
thing in  the  Relations.  Intellectually  the  Indians, 
with  all  their  cunning  and  oratorical  skill,  were 
much  like  children.  Before  they  could  be  instructed 
they  had  to  be  interested,  and  Brebeuf  shows  us 
how  this  was  done.  In  certain  respects  the  Jes- 
uits had  a  good  grasp  of  kindergarten  methods 
long  before  the  days  of  Froebel.  One  of  the  arti- 
cles taken  by  the  Fathers  into  the  wilderness  was 
a  clock.  "They  think  it  hears,"  says  Brebeuf, 
"when  for  a  joke  one  of  our  Frenchmen  calls  out 
at  the  last  stroke  of  the  hammer,  'That's  enough,' 
and  then  it  immediately  becomes  silent.  They 
call  it  the  Captain  of  the  day.  When  it  strikes, 
they  say  it  is  speaking;  and  they  ask  when  they 
come  to  see  us  how  many  times  the  Captain  has 
already  spoken.  They  ask  us  about  its  food;  they 
remain  a  whole  hour  and  sometimes  several,  in 
order  to  be  able  to  hear  it  speak.  They  used  to 
ask  at  first  what  it  said.  We  told  them  two  things 
that  they  have  remembered:  one,  that  when  it 
sounded  four  o'clock  of  the  afternoon  during  winter, 
it  was  saying,  *Go  away,  go  away  that  we  may 
close  the  door ' ;  the  other,  that  at  midday  it  said, 
'Come,  put  on  the  kettle.'  " 

So  much  for  the  clock.  Other  objects  which 
aroused  the  curiosity  and  admiration  of  the  Hurons 
were  the  magnet,  a  glass  with  eleven  facets,  a  Httle 
phial  in  which  a  flea  appeared  as  large  as  a  beetle, 
and  carpenters'  tools.     Most  of  all,  they  marvelled 


lOO  The  Missionary — Brebeuf 

at  writing,  "for,"  says  Brebeuf,  "they  cannot  con- 
ceive how  what  one  of  us  has  put  down  in  writing 
can  be  repeated  by  another  many  miles  away  when 
he  sees  the  letter."  "I  beheve,"  he  continues, 
"they  have  made  a  hundred  trials  of  it.  All  this 
serves  to  gain  their  affections,  and  to  render  them 
more  docile  when  we  introduce  the  admirable  and 
incomprehensible  mysteries  of  our  faith;  for  the 
belief  they  have  in  our  intelligence  and  capacity 
causes  them  to  accept  without  reply  what  we  say 
to  them."  The  religion  of  the  Hurons  was  really 
demon  worship.  The  Jesuits  tried  to  give  them 
a  better  outlook  by  dwelling  on  the  beauty  and  the 
beneficence  of  nature,  rather  than  on  its  cruelty. 
"And  what  is  there,"  said  Brebeuf  to  his  hearers, 
"so  wonderful  as  the  beauty  of  the  sky  and  the 
sun?  What  is  there  so  wonderful  as  to  see  every 
year  the  trees,  which  have  looked  dead  during 
the  winter,  resume  without  fail  every  spring  a  new 
Hfe  and  a  new  dress?  The  com  that  you  plant 
rots,  and  from  its  decay  spring  up  beautiful 
stalks  and  the  full  ear.  And  yet  you  do  not  say 
'He  who  made  so  many  beauties,  and  who  every 
year  displays  before  our  eyes  so  many  marvels, 
must  be  some  benevolent  oki'  " 

The  passages  just  quoted  from  Brebeuf 's  letter 
of  1635  will  show  how  the  Jesuits  sought  to  pre- 
pare the  Indian's  mind  for  the  reception  of  Chris- 
tian truth.  Of  the  superstitions  to  be  dethroned, 
the  most  rooted  centred  in  dreams.  In  Brebeuf's 
report  for  1636  there  is  a  long  and  most  entertain- 
ing passage  on  this  subject.  The  dream,  he  says, 
is  the  most  absolute  master  the  Hurons  have.     "If 


The  Missionary — Brebeuf  loi 

a  Captain  speaks  one  way  and  a  dream  another, 
the  Captain  might  shout  his  head  off  in  vain.  The 
dream  will  be  obeyed.  .  .  .  The  dream  often  pre- 
sides in  their  councils;  traffic,  fishing,  and  hunting 
are  undertaken  usually  under  its  sanction.  They 
hold  nothing  so  precious  that  they  would  not  deprive 
themselves  of  it  for  the  sake  of  a  dream.  A  dream 
will  sometimes  take  away  from  them  their  whole 
year's  provisions.  It  prescribes  their  feasts,  their 
dances,  their  songs,  their  games — in  a  word  the 
dream  does  everything,  and  is  in  truth  the  princi- 
pal God  of  the  Hurons."  One  thing  which  added 
an  element  of  zest  and  uncertainty  to  the  life  of 
the  Jesuits  among  the  Hurons  and  Iroquois  was 
that  if  a  brave  dreamed  he  had  killed  a  missionary, 
his  first  thought  on  awaking  was  to  go  and  do  it. 

The  above  examples,  drawn  from  Brebeuf  s 
letters,  will  show  what  intimate  details  are  to  be 
found  in  the  Jesuit  Relations  regarding  the  life  and 
manners  of  the  Indians.  But  this  part  of  the  sub- 
ject is  inexhaustible.  As  for  the  sufferings  which 
the  Jesuits  endured,  they  are  touched  on  by  the 
missionaries  themselves  with  reserve;  that  is  to 
say,  no  one  dilates  upon  his  own  sufferings.  But 
one  Father,  writing  about  the  labours  of  another, 
especially  if  he  has  suffered  martyrdom,  feels  at 
liberty  to  tell  the  whole  tale  of  privation,  physical 
pain,  and  strife  with  the  powers  of  darkness.  Noth- 
ing, however,  in  the  Relations  equals,  for  pathos 
and  tragedy,  the  story  of  Brebeuf's  death.  In 
1649  the  Iroquois  came  against  the  Hurons,  over- 
came them,  and  put  hundreds  to  death  with  inde- 
scribable barbarity.     Of  the  Jesuit   Fathers,   Bre- 


102  The  Missionary — Brebeuf 

beuf  and  Gabriel  Lalemant  perished  at  this  time 
with  their  Huron  disciples.  The  circumstances  of 
Brebeuf  s  death  we  shall  pass  by,  since  they  are 
too  shocking  for  repetition.  Any  who  may  desire 
the  details  of  a  heartrending  tragedy  can  get  them 
from  Parkman,  or,  better  still,  from  the  original 
account  given  by  Christopher  Regnaut  in  the  Jes- 
uit Relations.  Let  this  suffice,  that  Brebeuf  bore 
without  flinching,  pains  and  insults  which  it  seems 
inconceivable  a  human  being  should  be  able  to 
endure  for  ten  minutes,  let  alone  hours.  The 
tale  of  his  death  is  grander,  and  far  more  awful, 
than  anything  feigned  by  the  master  genius  which 
created  King  Lear. 

After  the  destruction  of  the  Hurons  the  Jes- 
uits prosecuted  with  fresh  vigour  their  work  among 
the  Iroquois.  Jogues  had  been  martyred  by  the 
Mohawks  three  years  before  the  death  of  Brebeuf. 
Undeterred  by  his  fate  the  Black  Robes  made  a 
deliberate  and  systematic  attempt  to  convert  the 
Five  Nations,  organising  their  work  on  a  larger 
scale  than  had  been  tried  in  the  region  around 
Georgian  Bay.  It  was  in  the  perio'd  between  1650 
and  1675  that  the  mission  to  the  Iroquois  was  most 
active.  Outside  infant  baptism,  however,  the  re- 
sults were  not  very  gratifying.  One  vestige  of  this 
mission  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  Indian  village  of 
Caughnawaga,  opposite  Lachine.  The  ancestors 
of  the  Caughnawaga  Indians,  who  are  daily  visible 
in  the  Windsor  St.  Station  of  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railway  in  Montreal,  were  Iroquois  converts  trans- 
ferred by  the  Fathers,  for  safekeeping,  to  the  banks 
of  the  St.  Lawrence.     The  present  representatives 


The  Missionary — Brebeuf  103 

of  the  Five  Nations  as  thus  seen  in  the  Windsor 
Station  are  considerably  stouter  than  the  squaws 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  Considering  the  way 
in  which  the  Iroquois  women  were  compelled  to 
work,  we  may  doubt  whether  any  two  of  them 
ever  equalled  in  weight  one  of  the  modern  basket 
sellers. 

It  has  been  pointed  out  that  the  Iroquois  mission 
lacks  the  elements  of  novelty  and  freshness  which 
belong  to  the  early  mission  among  the  Hurons. 
But  it  is  hardly  less  heroic.  And  in  parting  for  the 
present  with  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  we  must  come 
back  once  more  to  the  utter  courage  with  which 
they  faced  death  and  hardship  in  the  wilderness. 
As  to  the  results  of  their  work,  considered  from  a 
religious  standpoint,  there  is  doubtless  room  for 
discussion.  M.  Suite,  who  is  not  a  Protestant, 
thinks  that  the  number  of  converts  is  greatly  exag- 
gerated by  the  writers  of  the  Relations.  M.  Lorin, 
who  has  written  an  excellent  book  on  Frontenac, 
holds  the  same  opinion.  In  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury Sulpicians  and  Recollets  anticipated  these 
judgments  to  some  extent,  though  neither  Le 
Clercq  nor  De  Galinee  goes  so  far  as  M.  Suite.  "We 
are  told,"  says  Suite,  "that  numerous  conversions 
were  made  among  the  Hurons.  One  of  my  friends 
has  calculated  that  the  Jesuit  Relations  mention 
sixty  thousand  of  these  conversions.  Now  the 
Hurons  at  the  period  of  their  greatest  power  never 
exceeded  ten  thousand."  It  is  difficult  to  decide 
whether  or  not  M.  Suite's  friend  was  making  a 
little  joke,  but  many  writers  have  thought  the 
Jesuits  too  optimistic  in  counting  up  the  number 


I04  The  Missionary — Brebeuf 

of  their  proselytes.     Others  consider  that  the  mis- 
sions were  a  means  of  antagonising  the   Indians, 
and  therefore  a  source  of  harm  to  the  colony.     These 
moot  questions  we  cannot  consider  here.      But  all 
must    agree    that   the  Jesuit  Relations    are    above 
everything  else  a  splendid  record  of  heroism.     The 
stripes  which   the  missionaries  bore  for  the  filthy, 
cruel,    and    indifferent    savage   are  beyond    belief. 
They  tramped  with  him  among  the  cedar  swamps, 
they  were  asphyxiated  by  the  smoke  of  his  wigwam, 
they  starved  with  him,  and — what  was  still  more 
tr3dng — they  ate  his  food.     "It  is,"  says  Steven- 
son,   "but   a    pettifogging,    pickthank  {business    to 
decompose    actions   into    small    personal    motives, 
and  explain   heroism   away."     Among  the  Jesuits 
of  New  France  one  may  look  in  vain  for  little  per- 
sonal motives,  and  to  decompose  a  religious  ideal 
into  the  impulses  which  have  so  often  been  called 
fanaticism  and  superstition  would  be  least   pleas- 
ant of  all.      The  tortures  of  Jogues  and  Brebeuf 
are  known  everywhere,  and  form  a  fertile  theme 
for    perorations.      More    obscure    but    hardly    less 
glorious  were   Buteux's  march  through   the  melt- 
ing snows  of  the  Laurentian  hills,"  with  the  docile 
but  wretched  White  Fish;    the  life  of  Druillettes 
among  the  Abenakis,  which  won  him  the  honour 
of  Winthrop,  Bradford,  and  Eliot  at  a  time  when 
the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  was  forbidding 
the  presence  of  Jesuits  within  its  jurisdiction;    and 
Cr^pieul's  sufferings  among  the  Montagnais  of  the 
Saguenay    Basin.     Bravery    is    one    great    virtue, 
unselfishness  is  another.     And  when   the  two  are 
joined  in  religious  ministration  to  a  species  of  man- 


The  Missionary — Brebeuf  105 

kind  like  the  drunken  Huron,  or  the  fiendish  Iro- 
quois, the  record  must  be  kept  forever. 

The  Jesuit  mission  deserves,  and  has  received, 
the  greater  part  of  our  attention.  We  have  seen 
that  the  active  period  of  the  Recollet  mission  lasted 
only  from  1615  to  the  capture  of  Quebec  by  the 
English  in  1629.  In  literature  the  two  most  nota- 
ble memorials  which  it  has  left  are  Sagard's  Grand 
Voyage  du  pays  des  Hurons,  and  his  Histoire 
du  Canada*  But  if  the  presence  of  the  Recol- 
lets  in  New  France  is  a  minor  incident,  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Sulpicians  at  Montreal  is  a  fact  of 
capital  importance.  Let  us  now  put  the  found- 
ing of  Montreal  into  line  with  both  the  missionary 
movement,  and  the  creation  of  the  Sulpician  order. 

As  might  be  expected,  the  establishment  of 
French  settlements  in  Canada  foUowed  the  course 
of  the  St.  Lawrence,  those  higher  up  the  river 
being  later  in  origin  than  those  on  the  lower 
course  of  the  stream.  Thus  an  abortive  attempt 
was  made  to  fix  a  colony  at  Tadoussac  as  early  as 
1600.  Quebec  was  actually  settled  in  1608,  Three 
Rivers  in  1634,  and  Montreal  in  1642.  Through- 
out the  whole  period  from  Champlain  to  Frontenac, 
the  only  centres  of  population  which  can  be  dig- 
nified with  the  name  of  towns  were  Quebec,  Three 
Rivers,  and  Montreal. 

Of  the  three,  Montreal  has  the  most  interesting 
origin.  That  is  to  say,  Quebec  and  Three  Rivers 
came  into  being,  as  most  towns  do,  because  cer- 

*  After  their  return  to  Canada  in  1670  the  Recollets  re-entered 
the  mission  field,  but  not  ambitiously.  Le  Clercq's  Premier  etab- 
lissement  de  la  jot  belongs  to  this  second  period 


io6  The  Missionary — Brebeuf 

tain  people  wished  to  make  a  profit  out  of  trade. 
One  does  not  disparage  this  motive  in  itself  when 
he  says  that  the  impulse  which  lies  behind  the 
founding  of  Montreal  was  more  unselfish,  more 
ideal.  So  far  as  I  know,  Montreal  is  the  only  large 
city  in  the  world  which  has  arisen  out  of  a  mission 
colony.  This  city,  with  whose  present  standing 
in  Canada  we  are  all  so  familiar,  took  its  rise  from 
an  idea,  the  offshoot  of  religious  enthusiasm,  and 
divorced  from  all  thought  of  selfish  interest.  Before 
even  mentioning  the  names  of  those  who  first  con- 
ceived of  this  project,  let  me  state  its  exact  nature. 
The  design  was  to  found  on  the  island  of  Montreal, 
one  hundred  and  eighty  miles  above  Quebec,  a 
fortified  town  which  should  be  both  a  bulwark 
against  the  Iroquois,  and  a  centre  whence  the  light 
of  the  Gospel  might  shine  forth  among  the  Indian 
tribes.  Moreover,  and  this  is  an  essential  point, 
the  colonists  were  not  to  be  healthy  men  and  women 
taken  at  random,  but  fervent  Catholics  who  longed 
in  their  actions  to  revive  the  life  of  the  primitive 
Church.  The  relation  of  the  colonists  to  the 
natives  was  also  thought  out  beforehand.  .  The 
Indians  were  to  be  encouraged  to  settle  immedi- 
ately about  the  town,  for  two  reasons.  In  this  way 
they  would  receive  training  in  the  arts  of  civilisa- 
tion, and  they  would  also  see  Christianity  exem- 
plified in  the  actions  of  the  citizens.  Let  no  one 
for  a  moment  suggest  that  at  the  present  day  Mon- 
treal is  unworthy  of  its  origin,  but  the  ideal  with 
which  it  set  out  was  lofty,  and  at  all  points,  per- 
haps, it  is  not  quite  realised  in  our  own  times.  The 
town  was  placed  under  the  protection  of  the  Holy 


'    *  5»  J  *  *.   * 


Olier 


The  Missionary — Brebeuf  107 

Family,  and  dedicated  especially  to  the  Virgin. 
Villemarie,  the  city  of  Mary,  is  a  name  eloquent 
of  the  aspiration  which  prompted  the  founders 
of  Montreal.  It  was  hoped  that  in  process  of  time 
a  bishopric  might  be  established  there,  and  colonies 
be  sent  out  thence  to  disseminate  Catholicism 
through  the  New  World. 

Now  all  this  was  to  be  done  at  the  expense  of 
private  persons.  Neither  king,  clergy,  nor  people 
were  asked  for  financial  assistance.  Certain  asso- 
ciates brought  together  for  the  purpose  were  to 
bear  the  whole  cost,  and  undertake  the  whole  labour. 
How  careful  they  were  to  make  profession  of  dis- 
interested zeal  may  be  seen  from  the  memorial 
which  they  placed  before  Pope  Urban  VIII.  in  ask- 
ing his  benediction.  "Most  Holy  Father,"  say 
the  Associates,  "a  certain  number  of  persons,  put- 
ting away  from  themselves  all  thought  of  worldly 
profit  or  commercial  interest,  and  proposing  no  other 
aim  than  the  glory  of  God  and  the  establishment 
of  religion  in  New  France,  have  entered  into  this 
Society  with  the  hope  of  spreading  the  faith  among 
savage  nations  through  their  own  effort,  their  own 
means,  and  their  own  emigration  beyond  the 
sea." 

Such,  then,  was  the  project.  In  passing  to  its 
authors  and  to  those  whom  they  enlisted  in  the 
work,  one  must  first  mention  Jean  Jacques  Olier. 
In  1636,  when  the  scheme  first  took  definite  form, 
Olier  was  a  priest  rather  less  than  twenty-eight 
years  old,  resident  near  Paris.  In  collaboration 
with  Jerome  le  Royer  de  la  Dauversiere,  a  layman 
of  La  Fleche  in  Anjou,  he  began  to  plan  means 


io8  The  Missionary — Brebeuf 

for  the  erection  at  Montreal  of  such  a  colony  as 
has  been  described.  How  almost  simultaneously 
Dauversiere  and  Olier  had  visions  prompting  them 
to  undertake  this  work,  is  described  at  length  in 
all  the  histories  dealing  with  the  enterprise.  The 
inspiration  first  came  to  Dauversidre,  but  Olier's 
name  should  be  given  more  prominence  because 
of  the  two  he  was  much  the  greater.  The  chief 
financial  supporter  of  the  project  was  the  Baron 
de  Fancamp,  a  friend  of  Dauversiere.  The  original 
subscription  amounted  to  the  considerable  sum 
of  seventy-five  thousand  livres,  but  the  Associates 
who  at  the  outset  formed  the  Society  of  Notre- 
Dame  de  Montreal,  numbered  only  six. 

The  first  step  was  to  secure  a  grant  of  the  island 
of  Montreal,  of  which  the  Society  became  the 
seigneur,  with  power  to  appoint  a  governor  and 
have  its  own  courts.  As  part  of  the  scheme  Olier 
was  to  organise  a  seminary  of  priests,  and  Dau- 
versiere to  form  a  community  of  hospital  nuns. 
By  1640  the  band  of  six  associates  had  grown  to 
one  of  forty-five,  including  many  devout  ladies 
who  subscribed  largely  to  its  funds.  In  this  year 
the  last  details  of  the  expedition  were  arranged, 
and  the  first  band  of  Montrealistes  set  out  during 
the  summer  of  1641.  There  were  forty  men  and 
four  women.  The  party  wintered  at  Quebec, 
which  they  left  behind  them  on  the  8th  of  May, 
1642.  After  ascending  the  river  for  nine  days, 
they  came  in  sight  of  Montreal,  where,  as  soon 
as  they  had  gone  ashore,  they  began  life  in  their 
new  home  with  a  celebration  of  the  Holy  Com- 
munion.    The  officiating  clergyman   was   the  Jes- 


The  Missionary — Brebeuf  109 

uit  Father,  Barthelemy  Vimont,  who  had  accom- 
panied  them   from   Quebec. 

Neither  Oher  nor  Dauversiere  came  in  per- 
son. Among  the  men,  the  outstanding  figure  of 
this  infant  community  was  its  chieftain,  Paul  de 
Chomedy,  Sieur  de  Maisonneuve.  Parkman  has 
hkened  Maisonneuve  to  Godfrey,  the  leader  of 
the  First  Crusade,  and  it  was  certainly  in  the 
spirit  of  a  crusader  that  he  came  to  Montreal. 
France  had  had  more  to  do  with  the  Crusades 
than  all  the  other  countries  of  Europe  together, 
and  it  is  hke  a  gUmpse  of  the  twelfth  century 
to  see  these  French  men  and  women  braving 
the  perils  of  the  wdlderness  for  love  of  a  cause. 
Indeed,  ]\Iaisonneuve  and  his  followers  could  claim 
a  disinterestedness  which  few  of  the  crusaders 
possessed.  That  many  of  these  mediaeval  war- 
riors were  prompted  in  the  main  by  rehgious 
fervour  need  not  be  denied,  but  in  almost  all 
cases  there  was  a  mixture  of  motives,  worldly 
promptings  haidng  their  place  in  the  crusader's 
heart  along  with  his  love  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 
But  Maisonneuve  was  like  the  rarer  spirits,  like 
Godfrey  and  St.  Louis,  who  aimed  not  at  their 
own  advancement,  but  at  winning  victories  for 
the  faith. 

As  Maisonneuve  stands  out  from  among  the 
men  who  founded  Villemarie,  so  Jeanne  Mance 
was  the  most  notable  of  the  women.  She,  like 
most  of  the  others,  came  to  Montreal  under  the 
impulse  of  a  special  vocation,  and  was  prepared 
to  live  as  one  whose  sole  aims  were  the  worship 
of  God  and  the  service  of  His  people.     Marguerite 


no  The  Missionary — Brebeuf 

Bourgeoys,  afterwards  so  prominent  in  all  good 
works,  did  not  arrive  until  1653,  or  eleven  years 
after  the  original  pioneers  had  begun  their  work 
of  clearing  the  forest  and  erecting  their  colony 
on  the  cornerstone  of  rehgion. 

While  Maisonneuve  was  building  his  palisades 
and  driving  back  the  Iroquois,  while  Mile.  Mance 
was  nursing  the  sick  and  cheering  the  whole  com- 
munity by  her  gentle  ways,  Olier,  who  had  remained 
at  home,  was  founding  the  Society  of  St.  Sulpice. 

The  Sulpicians  do  not  form  a  monastic  order. 
They  are  a  body  of  secular  priests  whose  mem- 
bers take  no  vow.  The  tie  which  binds  them  is 
zeal  for  one  object  clearly  defined  by  Oher,  and 
associated  in  point  of  origin  with  the  colony  of 
Villemarie.  This  is  the  training  of  young  men 
for  orders,  and  the  ecclesiastical  duties  connected 
therewith.  In  other  words  they  are  a  body  of 
seminary  priests,  concerned  first  of  all  with  the 
education  of  the  clergy.  Outside  of  France  theii: 
chief  centre  to  the  present  day  is  the  Seminary 
in  Montreal,  whence  was  founded  the  Canadian 
Seminary  at  Rome.  There  are  also  important 
Sulpician  seminaries  at  Baltimore,  Washington, 
New  York,  Boston,  and  San  Francisco.  The  semi- 
naries of  St.  Sulpice  in  France  number  twenty-six. 

Organised  under  letters  patent,  and  vested  with 
the  power  to  accept  property,  the  priests  of  St. 
Sulpice  became  the  clergy  of  Montreal.  Outside 
the  island  they  made  few  attempts  to  reach  the 
Indians.  Abbe  Fenelon,  on  the  Bay  of  Quinte, 
and  Abb6  Picquet,  near  Ogdensburg,  opened  Sul- 
pician   missions,   but    it    was    the    wish    of    the 


The  Missionary — Brebeuf  1 1 1 

Seminary  to  gather  its  disciples  closely  about  it. 
On  the  island  of  Montreal  the  Sulpicians  minis- 
tered to  the  Indians  as  long  as  there  were  any 
left.  In  the  main  the  Society  aimed  at  the  con- 
solidation of  its  interests  rather  than  at  expansion. 
Its  resources  were  meagre  in  comparison  with 
those  of  the  Jesuits,  and  it  preferred  to  concen- 
trate its  energies  on  what  it  had  a  chance  of  doing 
well. 

How  the  Sulpicians  gained  the  island  of  Mon- 
treal, and  how  discord  arose  between  them  and 
the  Jesuits,  are  further  questions.  For  the  pres- 
ent, let  us  think  of  Villemarie  as  it  was  on  that 
17th  of  May,  1642,  when  Maisonneuve  and  Mile. 
Mance  with  their  forty-two  companions  began 
amid  hymns  of  praise  to  lay  the  foundations  of 
a  religious  commonwealth — a  commonwealth  which 
should  be  unsmirched  by  thought  of  self-seeking, 
a  commonwealth  whose  members  had  consecrated 
their  lives  to  God.  The  scene  has  been  simply 
but  delicately  sketched  by  DoUier  de  Casson,  the 
earliest  historian  of  Montreal.  From  him  we  know 
how  the  simple  altar  was  raised  near  the  river 
bank,  and  how  it  was  decorated  by  Mile.  Mance 
and  Mme.  de  la  Peltrie.  His,  too,  is  the  picture  of 
Father  Vimont  celebrating  High  Mass,  while  the 
entire  band  bowed  before  him,  and  asked  the 
favour  of  the  Lord  upon  the  work  that  they  were 
undertaking  in  His  name.  And,  finally,  to  him 
we  owe  the  preservation  of  those  words  in  which 
the  priest  blessed  Maisonneuve  and  his  scanty 
followers.  "You  are  a  grain  of  mustard-seed  that 
shall  rise  and  grow,  till  its  branches  overshadow 


1 1 2  The  Missionary — Brebeuf  i 

the  earth.  You  are  few,  but  your  work  is  the 
work  of  God,  His  smile  is  on  you,  and  your  chil- 
dren shall  mi  the  land." 

Under  such  auspices  was  Montreal  founded  in 
1642. 

In  order  to  raise  the  figure  of  Brebeuf  in  high  relief,  little 
has  been  said  regarding  Paul  Le  Jeune.  Both  as  apostle  and 
writer,  this  Father  stands  in  the  front  rank  of  Jesuit  missionaries. 
His  Relation  of  1634  is,  on  the  whole,  the  classic  narrative 
of  religious  effort  among  the  North  American  Indians,  and 
year  after  year  he  continued  to  write  or  compile  the  report 
which  was  sent  home  to  France.  His  account  of  the  winter 
he  spent  among  the  Montagnais  has  been  put  to  good  use 
by  Parkman.  Below  will  be  found  a  passage  from  Le  Jeune 
on  the  rigours  of  the  Canadian  winter,  which  shows  how  the 
climate  impressed  a  determined  and  optimistic  Jesuit  in  1633. 
This  quotation  is  given  as  a  typical  example,  proving  that 
missionaries  in  New  France  could  write  with  light,  anecdotal 
touch,  and  that  they  often  discussed  matters  quite  uncon- 
nected with  the  conversion  of  the  savages.  Unfortunately 
none  of  them  allows  himself  quite  the  same  latitude  which 
Borrow  took  in   The  Bible  in  Spain] 

"On  the  loth  of  January  the  cold  was  very  severe.  I  see 
daylight  a  great  part  of  the  winter  only  through  ice.  The 
crusts  of  ice  gather  upon  the  windows  of  my  cell,  or  little  room, 
and  fall  like  a  lozenge,  or  a  piece  of  glass,  when  the  cold  relaxes. 
It  is  through  this  crystal  that  the  sun  sends  us  his  light.  Sev- 
eral times  I  have  found  large  pieces  of  ice,  formed  by  my  breath, 
attached  to  my  blanket  in  the  morning;  and,  forgetting  to 
shake  them  off,  I  have  found  them  still  there  in  the  evening. 
I  have  sometimes  seen  them  in  France,  but  rarely,  and  they 
were  very  small  compared  with  these. 

"As  we  have  neither  a  spring  nor  a  well,  we  are  obliged  to 
go  for  water  every  day  to  the  river,  from  which  we  are  distant 
about  two  hundred  steps.  But  to  get  it,  we  must  first  break 
the  ice  with  heavy  blows  from  an  axe;  and  after  that  we 
must  wait  until  the  sea  comes  up,  for  when  the  tide  is  low 
you  cannot  get  water  because  of  the  thickness  of  the  ice.  We 
throw  this  water  into  a  barrel  which  is  not  far  from  a  good 
fire ;    and  yet  we  must  be  careful  to  break  the  layer  of  ice  every 


The  Missionary — Brebeuf  1 1  3 

morning;  otherwise,  in  two  nights,  it  would  be  one  mass  of  ice, 
even  if  the  barrel  were  ftill. 

"One  of  our  countrymen  was  thirsty,  when  in  the  woods, 
and  so  thought  to  lap  a  little  snow  from  the  axe  which  he  held ; 
when  he  touched  the  iron  his  tongue  stuck  fast,  and  froze  so 
quickl}'  and  so  solidly  that,  in  suddenly  withdrawing  the  axe 
on  account  of  the  cold  that  he  felt,  he  at  the  same  time  tore 
almost  all  the  skin  from  his  tongue. 

' '  All  this  would  have  almost  made  me  believe  in  France  that 
this  country  is  unbearable.  I  admit  that  some  days  are  very 
cold  and  penetrating,  but  they  are  few,  and  the  rest  is  more 
than  tolerable.  Here  they  roll  on  the  snow  as  they  do  in 
France  upon  the  grass  of  our  meadows,  so  to  speak;  I  do  not 
mean  to  say  that  it  is  less  cold  than  it  is  white,  but  the  days 
are  fine,  and  the  sun  is  warmer  than  in  many  parts  of  France. 
We  are,  they  say,  on  the  same  parallel  with  La  Rochelle.  The 
least  exercise  we  take  generally  dispels  the  rigour  of  the  cold. 

"  How  often,  when  coming  to  a  hill  or  a  mountain  which  I 
must  descend,  I  have  rolled  down  to  the  bottom  on  the  snow, 
experiencing  no  other  discomfort  than  to  change  for  a  little 
while  my  black  habit  for  a  white  one,  and  all  this  is  done  with 
much  laughter.  For  if  you  do  not  stand  firmly  upon  your 
raquettes,  you  will  whiten  your  head  as  well  as  your  feet. 

"  How  many  times  have  I  done  this  also  upon  the  icy  heights 
of  the  river  banks  along  which  I  was  going.  It  was  a  savage 
who  taught  me  this  trick,  known  to  everybody  here;  he  went 
ahead  of  me,  and,  seeing  that  his  head  was  in  danger  of  reach- 
ing the  river  before  his  feet,  he  let  himself  roll  the  whole  length 
of  the  ice,  and  I  after  him.  The  best  of  it  is  that  you  have 
to  do  it  only  once,  in  order  to  understand  the  trick.  I  was 
afraid,  at  first;  for  the  rising  tide,  lifting  up  those  great  blocks 
of  ice,  cracks  them  in  many  places,  and  the  water,  splashing 
up  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  makes  a  thin  layer  of  ice  over 
the  thicker  one.  When  you  try  walking  upon  the  thin  ice 
it  breaks  under  you.  The  first  time  I  tried  it,  I  thought  it 
was  all  going  to  sink  under  me.  But  I  do  not  believe  that  a 
cannon  could  crack  the  thickest  ice.  When  you  walk  upon 
it  in  the  Spring,  it  is  then  that  there  is  danger  of  stepping  into 
a  hole  and  going  under." 


CHAPTER   IV 
THE  COLONIST— HEBERT 

IT  is  an  interesting  symptom  that  of  late  France 
has  begun  to  regard  Canada  with  a  new  curi- 
osity. This  at  least  may  be  inferred  from  the 
appearance  of  several  books  which  hardly  would 
have  been  written  but  for  the  increasing  impor- 
tance of  the  French  race  in  America.  One  passes 
over  such  a  work  as  Father  de  Rochemonteix's 
three  volumes  on  Les  /^suites  et  la  Nouvelle-F ranee, 
for  here  the  author  may  be  prompted  by  a  sense  of 
professional  duty.  But  Lorin's  Le  Cotnte  de  Fron- 
tenac,  Siegfried's  Le  Canada,  and  Salone's  La 
Colonisation  de  la  Nouvelle-F  ranee,  draw  their 
inspiration  from  the  belief  that  the  French  race 
as  it  has  developed  beyond  the  Atlantic  is  worthy 
of  careful  observation.  Nor  is  this  a  mistaken 
idea.  Take,  for  example,  one  marvellous  phe- 
nomenon. When  Levis  surrendered  at  Montreal 
in  1760,  the  French  of  the  mother  country  num- 
bered about  twenty  millions,  while  there  were 
sixty-five  thousand  French  Canadians.  At  present 
the  population  of  France  is  forty  milHons,  whereas 
there  are  in  America  at  least  three  miUion  French 

Canadians.     In  other  words,  while  the  inhabitants 

114 


The  Colonist — Hebert  1 1 5 

of  the  home  land  have  not  quite  doubled,  those 
of  the  colony  have  multiplied  nearly  fifty-fold. 
Father  Vimont  was  a  true  prophet  when  he  told 
the  first  colonists  of  Montreal  that  their  children 
would  fill  the  land. 

Now,  when  Frenchmen  of  the  present  day, 
like  Siegfried  and  Salone,  fix  their  gaze  upon  Can- 
ada, they  cannot  fail  to  be  impressed  by  the  sta- 
tistics which  have  just  been  cited.  "La  race 
canadienne,"  says  Salone  in  closing  his  book, 
"a  pris  racine."  Siegfried  goes  farther  still  in 
discussing  the  whole  relationship  of  France  to 
French  Canada.  Aspirations  for  a  political  con- 
nection are,  of  course,  out  of  the  question.  At 
no  moment  since  1760  have  France  and  French 
Canada  seemed  so  little  likely,  as  at  present,  to 
yearn  for  a  renewal  of  the  political  bond.  But, 
says  Siegfried,  France  has  too  long  neglected  the 
fortunes  of  these  French  in  Canada,  cut  off  from 
the  old  home  by  fate  and  history.  Quite  apart 
from  any  thought  of  poHtical  union  which,  he 
frankly  states,  is  to  be  put  altogether  aside,  there 
are  affihations  of  language  and  sentiment  which 
survive.  Let  France,  he  concludes,  think  more 
of  Canada  than  she  has  done  in  the  past,  for  the 
French  in  America  are  by  no  means  a  negligible 
part  of  the  French  race. 

This  new  disposition  among  the  French,  besides 
being  a  striking  fact  in  itself,  has  a  direct  bearing 
upon  the  subject  which  we  are  about  to  consider. 
If  the  French  of  America  had  done  no  more  than 
multiply  in  the  same  ratio  with  the  French  at 
home,  there  would  be  less  than  one  hundred  and 


1 1 6  The  Colonist — Hebert 

fifty  thousand  of  them  to-day,  and  one  could  not 
expect  to  find  Siegfried  or  Salone  writing  serious 
books  about  a  population  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand.  When  we  speak  of  the  French 
colony  as  it  was  under  the  Old  Regime,  we  must 
first  acknowledge  that,  judged  by  one  most  impor- 
tant standard,  it  was  a  success.  To  speak  more 
precisely,  the  French  settler  in  Canada  showed 
from  the  first  a  marked  aptitude  for  seizing  upon 
the  soil  and  clinging  to  it.  If  the  French  race 
in  the  seventeenth  century  did  not  colonise  on 
a  large  scale,  the  fact  was  due  to  conditions  which 
prevailed  in  France.  Once  carry  the  Norman 
over  seas,  and  he  braves  the  wilderness  with  a 
soul  of  iron.  Despite  unfortunate  restrictions 
placed  by  the  state  upon  his  freedom  of  action, 
despite  a  defective  system  of  agriculture,  he  will 
make  his  way.  Speaking  politically,  the  settle- 
ment of  Canada  by  the  French  was  a  failure;  or 
perhaps  it  would  be  better  to  say  that  viewed 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  Bourbon  monarchy, 
it  was  a  failure.  But  considered  from  the  stand- 
point of  race,  it  was  far  from  being  a  failure,  since 
the  individual  Frenchman,  in  spite  of  his  own 
government  and  of  many  natural  obstacles,  clung 
to  the  soil.  Napoleon  used  to  say  that  every 
state  is  a  political  creation.  Never  did  a  more 
wrong-headed  idea  enter  the  mind  of  a  great  man. 
A  state  is  much  more  than  a  political  creation. 
It  is  a  collection  of  people,  and  the  people  remain 
after  the  form  of  government  has  been  changed. 
Remembering  this,  we  must  recognise  that  the 
colonisation   of   New   France   was   not   so   much   a 


The  Colonist — Hebert  1 1 7 

failure  as  it  might  have  seemed  to  be  in  the  autumn 
of  1760. 

Singular  and  amusing  views  prevailed  in  the 
days  when  Europe  first  began  to  send  her  children 
into  distant  continents.  The  original  idea  was 
that  any  kind  of  human  being  would  answer 
admirably  as  a  colonist.  Miss  Austen,  in  North- 
anger  Abbey,  says  of  the  numerous  Morland  chil- 
dren: "A  family  of  ten  will  always  be  called  a 
fine  family,  where  there  are  heads  and  arms  and 
legs  enough  for  the  number."  Likewise,  if  only 
a  band  of  colonists  had  heads  and  arms  and  legs 
enough  for  the  number,  they  were  apt  to  pass 
muster  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Exactly  what 
is  meant  can  be  made  out  from  a  single  illustra- 
tion. The  most  interesting  contemporary  narra- 
tive of  John  Cabot's  landfall  comes  to  us  from  an 
Italian,  Raimondo  Soncino,  who  in  1497  was  the 
ambassador  of  Milan  at  the  English  court.  Writ- 
ing to  his  master  about  Cabot's  discovery,  Soncino 
says  among  other  things:  "And  in  the  spring  he 
says  that  his  Majesty  will  arm  some  ships  and 
will  give  him  all  the  criminals,  so  that  he  may 
go  to  this  country  and  plant  a  colony  there." 
Even  now  it  is  not  quite  polite  to  ask  a  native  of 
New  South  Wales  whether  his  ancestors  were 
among  the  first  settlers,  but  Botany  Bay  did  not 
stand  alone  in  this  respect.  Centuries  before  the 
colonisation  of  Australia,  convicts  had  been  sent 
over  seas  for  their  country's  good,  and  inciden- 
tally to  lay  the  cornerstone  of  a  new  common- 
wealth. Booker  Washington  says  that  the  mem- 
bers of  his  race  are  alone  in  having  come  to  America 


1 1 8  The  Colonist— Hebert 

with  their  passage  paid.  Apparently,  however, 
he  is  labouring  under  a  misapprehension  on  this 
point.  If  we  may  believe  John  Fiske,  England 
alone  contributed  to  the  Western  Hemisphere  some 
fifty  thousand  emigrants  of  white  complexion  who 
came  over  with  their  passage  paid. 

Closely  connected  with  the  exportation  of  con- 
victs as  colonists,  is  the  idea  that  the  colony  exists 
for  the  benefit  of  the  mother  land, — not  indirectly 
for  its  benefit  through  enhancement  of  prestige 
and  through  the  normal  intercourse  of  trade, 
but  directly  through  the  payment  of  imposts  to 
the  home  government,  and  the  shackling  of  com- 
merce for  the  benefit  of  the  home  merchants. 
Were  there  space,  it  would  be  well  worth  while  to 
examine  how  this  notion  affected  the  colonising 
projects  of  Spain  and  England,  for  neither  country 
escaped  its  influence.  In  the  case  of  France  and 
Canada,  the  one  valuable  commodity  which  could 
be  sent  home  was  the  beaver  skin.  At  least  this 
is  true  of  the  days  when  the  colony  was  being 
founded.  To  secure  a  monoply  of  the  fur  trade 
was  therefore  the  prime  object  of  capitalists  who 
invested  their  money  in  trans-Atlantic  ventures. 
Such  a  monopoly  could  be  had  only  from  the 
crown.  Court  favour  counted  for  much  on  the 
side  of  the  applicant,  but  the  government  could 
not  afford  to  grant  away  valuable  privileges  with- 
out making  stipulations.  The  first  of  these,  per- 
force, related  to  colonisation.  If  the  English  were 
to  be  kept  out  of  the  St.  Lawrence  valley,  some 
one  must  hold  it  for  France.  And  it  was  not  easy 
to  inspire  an  interest  in  emigration  when  all  the 


The  Colonist — Hebert  1 1 9 

world  knew  how  closely  the  cUmate  of  Canada 
resembled  that  of  Norway.  The  crown  often 
agreed  to  grant  a  monoply  of  the  fur  trade,  but 
every  intelligent  king  insisted  that  the  persons 
who  received  it  should  take  over  a  certain  number 
of  colonists.  As  a  rule  the  promise  was  evaded, 
and  even  where  it  was  fulfilled,  the  holder  of  the 
monopoly  treated  the  colonist  more  like  a  servant, 
than  hke  an  independent  freeman  who  had  taken 
up  his  home  in  a  continent  where  there  was  land 
enough  for  all. 

The  foregoing  statements  can  well  be  illus- 
trated by  reference  to  the  settlement  of  New 
France  during  the  time  of  Champlain.  To  begin 
at  the  beginning,  it  was  Henry  IV.  who  set  the 
precedent  of  giving  a  monopoly.  This  happened 
at  the  very  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
in  each  case  the  beneficiary  was  bound  to  take 
out  a  fixed  number  of  colonists.  In  1597  La 
Roche  proposed  to  found  a  colony  on  Sable  Island, 
off  the  coast  of  Nova  Scotia.  No  decent  emigrants 
being  procurable,  he  arranged  with  the  govern- 
ment to  transport  sturdy  vagrants  from  the  gaols 
of  Normandy  and  Brittany.  He  was  told  that 
he  might  have  as  many  as  he  liked,  and  he  took 
two  hundred.  On  La  Roche's  death,  Chauvin,  a 
Huguenot  of  Honfleur,  received  a  monopoly  of 
the  fur  trade  on  condition  that  he  would  take 
over  fifty  colonists  a  year  for  ten  years.  This 
promise  he  flagrantly  evaded,  his  largest  effort 
in  the  field  of  colonisation  being  represented  by 
the  cynical  abandonment  of  sixteen  unfortunates 
who   were   left   to   winter   at   Tadoussac   in   1600. 


I  20  The  Colonist — Hebert 

De  Monts,  the  most  eminent  of  these  early  adven- 
turers, approached  his  duties  more  seriously,  but 
having  lost  money  in  Acadia,  he  came  to  the  St. 
Lawrence  as  a  last  resort.  Champlain  was  acting 
as  De  Monts'  agent  when  he  landed  at  Quebec  in 
1608,  and  his  twenty-seven  companions  were  merely 
sent  out  to  fulfil  the  condition  upon  which  the 
monopoly  was  granted — the  condition,  namely, 
that  the  holder  should  transport  and  establish 
colonists. 

If  the  monopolist  failed  to  discharge  his  obli- 
gation, it  was  not  because  he  went  unwatched. 
The  grant  which  a  benevolent  king  had  given 
him  injured  the  interests  of  many  shipowners  at 
St.  Malo,  Dieppe,  La  Rochelle,  and  other  French 
ports, — small  traders  who  would  gladly  have  bar- 
tered with  the  Indians  for  furs,  but  were  without 
court  favour.  Their  plea  was  that  men  like  Chau- 
vin,  De  Chastes,  and  De  Monts,  the  successive 
holders  of  the  monopoly,  did  nothing  to  promote 
colonisation,  and  yet  kept  scores  of  people  from 
carrying  on  a  profitable  trade.  In  1609  Henry  IV. 
listened  to  these  lesser  merchants,  and  took  .away 
De  Monts'  monopoly.  Then  followed  four  years 
of  free  trading,  but  the  experiment  was  not  a  suc- 
cess, and  in  1613  Marie  de  Medicis  revived  the 
monopoly  for  the  benefit  of  a  great  noble,  the 
Prince  de  Conde.  It  was  in  conjunction  with 
Cond6  that  Champlain  organised  the  company 
which  brought  to  Canada  its  first  bona  fide  colo- 
nist, Louis  Hebert.  The  career  of  this  settler  is  so 
characteristic  that  we  must  examine  it  in  some 
detail. 


The  Colonist— Hebert  121 

Hebert's  early  training  could  not  have  pre- 
pared him  very  well  for  the  rough  life  of  a  farmer 
in  Canada.  Among  the  French  of  that  age  the 
typical  colonist  is  to  be  found  in  the  Norman 
peasant,  whose  muscles  have  been  hardened  by 
years  of  spade  work  and  mowing.  But  Hebert 
was  neither  a  Norman  nor  a  peasant.  He  came 
from  Paris,  and  by  profession  w^as  an  apothecary. 
That  one  of  his  modest  ambitions  should  have 
lacked  a  contemporary  biographer,  need  give  no 
cause  for  surprise.  The  facts  of  his  career,  so 
obscure  and  yet  so  admirable,  must  be  pieced 
together  from  scraps  of  information  which  occur 
here  and  there  in  the  different  narratives  of  early 
hfe  at  Port  Royal  and  Quebec.  Without  ever 
doing  a  briUiant  deed  or  writing  a  line  of  Utera- 
ture,  Hebert  deserves  all  the  praise  which  belongs 
to  a  brave,  a  persevering,  and  a  useful  man.  Unlike 
Champlain,  or  DTberville,  or  Frontenac,  he  is  not 
a  celebrity;  but  in  selecting  an  indi\'idual  colonist 
who  shall  prefigure  the  whole  class,  one  finds  that 
his  claims  are  paramount. 

As  an  emigrant,  Hebert  first  appears  among 
the  followers  of  Poutrincourt.  What  led  him  to 
leave  his  home  in  Paris  must  remain  a  matter 
of  conjecture,  save  for  this.  It  was  no  light  whim 
which  made  him  dream  of  a  home  in  America. 
Had  he  drifted  into  Poutrincourt' s  band  of  colo- 
nists through  accident,  his  experiences  of  the  New 
World  must  have  caused  him  to  remain  joyfully 
in  France  at  the  time  of  his  first  return.  Instead, 
however,  of  reopening  his  shop  on  the  banks  of 
the   Seine   and   reviling   the   hardships   of   Acadia 


122  The  Colonist — Hebert 

for  the  pleasure  of  his  customers,  he  pursued  his 
chosen  task  with  unflinching  energy.*  We  can 
think  of  him,  therefore,  as  a  colonist  from  con- 
viction rather  than  by  chance.  Or  was  it  that 
he  went  out  with  Poutrincourt  merely  in  the 
character  of  an  apothecary,  and  became  fond  of 
the  New  World  after  he  had  come  to  know  it  with 
all  its  dangers  and  privations? 

Some  colour  is  lent  to  the  latter  view  by  a 
passage  in  which  Lescarbot  describes  the  agri- 
cultural efforts  of  Poutrincourt.  "And  there," 
says  the  historian  of  Port  Royal,  "he  sowed  corn 
and  planted  vines,  with  the  aid  of  our  apothecary, 
M.  Louis  Hebert,  who,  apart  from  the  training 
he  possessed  in  his  profession,  took  great  pleasure 
in  working  the  soil."  From  these  words  it  would 
appear  that  Hebert  was,  first  of  all,  the  medical 
officer  of  the  colony  at  Port  Royal,  incidentally 
amusing  himself  in  the  garden.  But  even  though 
he  may  have  been  taken  out  with  the  expedition 
to  dispense  drugs,  his  agricultural  proclivities  make 
him  by  common  consent  the  first  true  colonist 
of  Acadia.  Others  might  seek  to  gain  a  fortune 
rapidly  through  the  fur  trade.  Hebert,  on  the 
contrary,   was   by   instinct    a   farmer. 

We  should  pass  over  his  Acadian  experiences 
with  a  mere  allusion,  were  they  not  needed  to  fill 
out  the  meagre  story  of  his  deeds.     As  it  is,  one 

*  It  is  true  that  for  a  time,  between  his  final  return  from 
Acadia  and  his  departure  for  Canada,  Hubert  did  reopen  his 
shop  in  Paris.  But  this  was  only  because  he  had  been  driven 
out  of  Acadia  by  the  destruction  of  the  settlement,  and  was  not 
in  a  position  to  take  his  family  to  Quebec  without  an  invitation 
from  the  Company. 


The  Colonist — Hebert  123 

must  make  use  of  every  circumstance  which 
throws  Hght  on  Hebert' s  character.  Of  his  per- 
sonal adventures  at  Port  Royal  there  is  scant 
record.  Lescarbot  emphasises  his  special  interest 
in  the  cultivation  of  grapes.  Biard,  the  Jesuit 
missionary,  calls  him  "a  well-known  master  in 
pharmacy."  It  is  certain  that  he  revisited  France 
in  1607  and  then  returned  to  Port  Royal,  where 
he  remained  till  the  colony  was  broken  up  by 
the  English  in  1613.  During  his  second  residence 
he  was  clearly  considered  to  be  the  leading  per- 
sonage among  the  permanent  inhabitants.  The 
best  evidence  of  this  fact  is  that  Biencourt,  Pou- 
trincourt's  son,  named  him  as  his  representative 
during  frequent  absences  from  Port  Royal,  and 
though  the  number  of  colonists  was  very  small, 
such  an  appointment  impUes  trust.  The  longest 
single  reference  to  the  position  which  Hebert 
held  under  Biencourt  occurs  in  Biard's  Relation 
for  1616,  where  an  account  is  given  of  La  Saus- 
saye's  arrival  [May,  1613]. 

"At  Port  Royal  they  found  only  five  persons; 
namely,  the  two  Jesuits,  their  servant,  the  Apoth- 
ecary Hebert,  and  another.  Sieur  de  Biencourt 
and  the  rest  of  his  people  were  all  quite  far  away, 
some  here,  some  there.  Now  because  Hebert  was 
taking  the  place  of  the  Sieur,  they  presented  to 
him  the  Queen's  letters,  which  contained  the 
royal  command  to  release  the  Jesuits  and  to  let 
them  go  wherever  they  pleased;  so  the  Jesuits 
took  away  their  property  in  great  peace.  And 
on  that  day  as  well  as  on  the  following,  they  made 
it  as  pleasant  for  Hebert  and  his  company  as  they 


124  The  Colonist — Hebert 

could,  so  that  this  arrival  would  not  be  a  cause 
of  sadness  to  them.  At  their  departure  (although 
they  were  not  in  need  of  anything)  they  left  them 
a  barrel  of  bread  and  some  bottles  of  wine,  that 
the  farewell  might  be  received  with  equally  good 
grace." 

Shortly  after  this  the  French  colony  at  Port 
Royal  was  destroyed,  and  Hebert  found  himself 
once  more  in  France.  But  he  was  not  discour- 
aged by  what  he  had  undergone,  and  readily  con- 
sented to  pass  from  the  day  of  small  things  in 
Acadia  to  things  almost  equally  small  at  Quebec. 
And  here  it  is  pleasant  to  remember  the  friendship 
between  Champlain  and  Hebert,  both  good  men 
and  true,  who  from  old  acquaintance  in  Acadia 
were  familiar  with  each  other's  virtues.  Con- 
cerning the  details  of  their  early  relationship,  we 
know  nothing.  Champlain  was  mapping  the  Atlan- 
tic seaboard  from  Nova  Scotia  to  Cape  Cod  when 
Hebert  first  reached  Port  Royal.  Two  years  later, 
when  the  explorer  left  Acadia  to  found  Quebec, 
they  must  have  drifted  apart.  But  Champlain 
knew  enough  about  Hebert  to  feel  certain,  in  1617, 
that  he  would  be  an  invaluable  member  of  the 
little  group  then  struggling  for  existence  at  the 
base  of  Cape  Diamond.  The  following  passage, 
taken  from  Le  Clercq's  First  Establishment  of  the 
Faith  (1691),  contains  a  sufficiently  clear  account 
of  the  circumstances  under  which  Hebert  came  to 
Canada. 

"Monsieur  de  Champlain,  on  his  part,  forgot 
nothing  to  sustain  his  enterprise,  in  spite  of  all 
the   obstacles   which   he   met   at   every   step.     He 


The  Colonist — Hebert  125 

steadily  prepared  a  shipment  greater  even  than 
the  last,  but  we  may  say  that  the  most  fortunate 
thing  he  effected  was  his  persuading  Sieur  Hebert 
to  go  to  Canada  with  all  his  family,  which  has 
produced,  and  will  hereafter  produce,  good  sub- 
jects, the  most  important  and  zealous  in  the 
colony." 

To  a  large  extent  Hebert  was  victimised  by 
the  Company  of  which  Champlain  was  the  leading 
spirit.  This  may  seem  a  harsh  statement,  and  one 
requiring  explanation.  Therefore  the  facts  should 
be  recited;  and  they  are  worth  repetition  for  the 
light  they  throw  upon  colonial  methods  in  that  age. 

After  the  destruction  of  Port  Royal,  Hebert 
returned  to  Paris  and  his  profession.  He  had  a 
shop,  a  family,  and  a  little  capital,  all  these  being 
considerations  of  importance  to  himself  and  his 
biographer.  When  it  became  a  question  of  estab- 
lishing this  excellent  apothecary  at  Quebec,  the 
negotiations  were  carried  on  by  Champlain,  whose 
business  associates  authorised  him  to  offer  attrac- 
tive terms.  In  short,  Hebert  before  leaving  Paris 
was  promised  that  he  and  his  family  should  be 
supported  for  two  years,  and  that  he  should  receive 
in  cash  two  hundred  crowns  for  three  years.  On 
this  understanding  he  sold  his  house  and  shop, 
bought  an  equipment  for  the  new  home  in  Quebec, 
and  set  off  with  his  family  to  embark  at  Honfleur. 
Here,  however,  he  found  that  the  Company  was 
not  prepared  to  stand  by  its  agreement.  It  beat 
him  down  from  two  hundred  to  one  hundred 
crowns  a  year,  and  stipulated  that  he  with  all  his 
family,  and   his   domestic,  should   serve   the  Com- 


1 26  The  Colonist — Hebert 

pany  for  the  three  years  during  which  the  grant 
was  payable.  Even  at  the  end  of  three  years, 
when  he  found  himself  at  liberty  to  till  the  soil, 
he  was  bound  to  sell  produce  to  the  Company 
at  the  prices  prevalent  in  France.  The  Company 
was  to  have  his  perpetual  service  as  a  chemist 
for  nothing,  and  he  must  promise  in  writing  to 
take  no  part  in  the  fur  trade.  Hebert  had  cut  off 
his  retreat  and  accepted  these  hard  terms,  but 
is  it  strange  that  under  such  conditions  colonists 
should  have  been  few?  Sagard,  the  RecoUet  mis- 
sionary, says  the  Company  treated  Hebert  so  badly 
because  it  wished  to  discourage  colonisation.  What 
it  wanted  was  the  benefit  of  the  monopoly,  without 
the  obligation  of  finding  settlers  who  had  to  be 
brought  over  for  nothing. 

A  man  of  honour,  like  Champlain,  could  not 
have  tricked  Hihcrt  into  the  bad  bargain  he  made, 
and  their  friendship  survived  the  incident.  So 
far  as  one  can  see,  the  Company  repudiated  the 
terms  which  in  good  faith  Champlain  had  made 
on  its  behalf.  In  any  case  Hebert  did  not  suffer 
his  spirit  to  be  crushed  by  injustice.  This  apoth- 
ecary from  Paris  took  up  his  work  with  a  hearti- 
ness which  augured  well  for  the  future  of  the  French 
race  in  America.  Prior  to  1617  the  recruits  brought 
over  by  Champlain  had  been  pure  adventurers, 
greedy  for  quick  returns  and  ready  to  sing  In 
exitu  Israel  whenever  they  could  leave  the  country. 
But  Hebert  cleared  land,  cultivated  it  with  liis 
own  hands,  married  his  daughters  to  genuine  colo- 
nists, acquired  a  fief,  and  became,  save  for  Cham- 
plain, the  leading  citizen  of  Quebec. 


The  Colonist — Hebcrt  127 

The  incidents  of  such  a  Ufe  do  not  lend  them- 
selves to  picturesque  treatment,  and  yet  Hebert's 
labours  are  so  meritorious  that  posterity  should 
preserve  with  pious  care  whatever  is  known  about 
him.  From  the  moment  he  reached  Canada  till 
his  death  ten  years  later,  incessant  toil  seems  to 
have  filled  his  days.  At  the  same  time  he  was 
not  a  drudge.  Possessed  of  some  education  and 
a  little  property,  confident  in  the  future  of  the 
New  World,  and  eager  to  do  something  for  the 
Christian  faith,  he  combined  with  his  industry 
both  intelligence  and  purpose. 

In  1617  all  the  buildings  which  had  been  erected 
at  Quebec  lay  by  the  water's  edge.  Hebert,  Hke 
the  true  pioneer  he  was,  left  the  little  group  of 
fur  traders  where  they  were  at  the  foot  of  the 
cHff,  and  looking  for  some  soil  that  could  be  cul- 
tivated, began  to  make  a  clearing  on  the  heights. 
His  first  domain  covered  less  than  ten  acres,  but 
even  this  small  area  of  stumps  must  have  been 
a  severe  tax  upon  his  powers.  Once  in  occupa- 
tion of  a  pied  a  terre^  he  began  building,  and  soon 
had  a  stone  house  which  was  thirty-eight  feet 
long,  by  nineteen  wide.  There  is  reason  to  believe 
that  his  agricultural  operations  were  confined  to 
the  spade,  though  in  the  year  after  his  death  his 
wife  set  up  a  plough.  Besides  sowing  Indian  corn 
and  the  ordinary  vegetables,  he  planted  apple 
trees  and  vines.  He  also  managed  to  support 
some  cattle.  When  one  considers  what  all  this 
implies  in  the  way  of  food  and  comfort,  it  may 
be  guessed  that  the  fur  traders,  wintering  down 
below  on  salt  pork  and  smoked  eels,  must  have 


128  The  Colonist — Hebert 

felt  much  respect  for  the  farmer  in  his  stone  man- 
sion on  the  cliff. 

But  Hebert  and  his  family  were  not  only  intel- 
ligent and  hardworking;  we  have  abundant  evi- 
dence to  prove  that  they  were  charitable.  The 
Recollets  and  Jesuits,  whose  attitude  toward  indi- 
viduals was  not  always  the  same,  both  speak  in  the 
highest  praise  of  them.  Indeed  the  longstanding 
friendship  between  this  household  and  the  reh- 
gious  began  during  the  voyage  of  1617,  when  in 
the  midst  of  great  peril  among  the  icebergs,  Madame 
Hebert  held  up  her  youngest  child  to  be  blessed 
by  Father  Le  Caron,  who  was  preparing  all  on 
board  for  the  hour  of  death.  But  the  ship  did 
not  go  down,  and  having  faced  danger  together 
on  the  deep,  they  cheerfully  set  out  to  brave  star- 
vation on  Cape  Diamond.  For  years,  Hebert 
and  the  Recollets  were  working  side  by  side  in  com- 
plete amity.  And  the  valiant  farmer  went  to  his 
rest  in  the  R^coUet  cemetery.  As  for  the  Jesuits, 
it  was  not  until  after  Hebert's  death  that  they 
began  to  send  home  their  reports  from  Quebec, 
but  in  Le  Jeune's  early  Relations  there  occur  sev- 
eral encomiums  of  Madame  Hebert.  At  her  house 
Mass  was  celebrated  for  the  first  time  after  the 
French  returned  to  Quebec  in  1632.  When  a 
nurse  was  needed,  the  Fathers  went  to  her.  She 
and  her  children  appear  in  the  chronicles  of  the 
Jesuits  as  "the  old  family,"  "the  estimable  family 
that  is  settled  here,"  or  "this  worthy  family  who 
have  lived  here  quite  a  long  time." 

While  Hebert  could  hardly  grow  rich  in  ten 
years  from  the  produce  of  a  few  arpents  planted 


The  Colonist — Hebert  129 

with  peas  and  onions,  he  had  his  share  of  modest 
prosperity.  In  1621  we  find  him  at  Tadoussac 
as  a  heutenant  of  De  Caen.  Afterwards  he  is 
Royal  Procurator.  Finally,  in  the  year  before  his 
death  (1626),  he  secures  the  seigniory  of  St.  Joseph, 
situated  on  the  river  St.  Charles,  and  with  it  the 
title  Sieur  d'Espinay.*  The  difficulties  which  he 
overcame,  especially  in  his  relations  with  the 
Company,  are  referred  to  with  much  feeling  by 
both  Sagard  and  Champlain.  Sagard  says  that 
the  merchants  wished  to  treat  Hebert  and  his 
family  as  though  they  were  servants,  "or  slaves 
rather,"  and  grudged  them  the  fruit  of  their  labours. 
"O  God,"  he  exclaims,  "everywhere  the  great 
fish  eat  the  Uttle  ones!"  And  this  statement  in 
Sagard  is  substantiated  by  one  equally  distinct 
in  Champlain.  Therefore  any  success  which  Hebert 
achieved,  he  won  by  dint  of  tireless,  unremitting 
effort. 

No  other  single  passage  about  the  first  colonist 
is  so  long  as  that  which  Sagard  devotes  to  his  last 
moments.  For  this  RecoUet  friar,  Hebert  is  the 
type  of  the  good  man  whose  virtues  are  an  ensam- 
ple  to  future  generations.  In  him  both  French 
and  savages  have  lost  a  true  father,  a  steadfast 
friend.  That  Hebert  made  a  pious  end  in  the 
midst  of  his  family,  is  clear  from  what  follows 
this  exordium,  and  two  pages  are  devoted  to  his 
parting  words.  Of  equal  interest  is  Le  Clercq's 
tribute  written  more  than  sixty  years  later.  "We 
had  at  this  time  another  grief.     Monsieur  Hebert, 

*He  had  already  in  1623  been  given  the  small  seigniory  of 
Sault  au  Matelot. 


130  The  Colonist— Hebert 

the  first  settler  of  the  colony,  of  whom  we  have  I 
spoken  in  the  beginning  of  our  history,  fell  sick, 
exhausted   by   the    hardships    he    had   undergone, 
and  after  lingering  some  days  he  paid  the  debt  1 
of   nature.     His   death   was   universally   regretted.  1 
He   may   be   called   the   Abraham   of   the   colony, 
the  father  of  the  Uving  and  faithful,  since  his  pos- 
terity has  become  as  numerous  as  we  have  here- 
tofore said.*     It  has  produced  many  officers,  civil 
and  military,  able  merchants,  worthy  ecclesiastics, 
finally  a  great  number  of  good  Christians,  many 
of   whom    have    suffered   much,    and   others    have 
been  killed  by  the  Indians  in  the  common  cause." 
These  words,  which  go  back  to  1691,  are  confirmed 
by  the  biography  of  the  last  two  hundred  years. 
M.  Salone  has  summed  up  Hebert 's  career  tersely 
in    these    words:    "And   so    this    Parisian    chemist  j 
became  not  only  the  first  Acadian  and  the  first  ' 
Canadian,  but  the  first  seigneur  of  New  France." 
However  there  is  more  to  follow.      From  Hebert 
are    descended   some   of   the   best-known    French- 
Canadian    families;    for   example,    those   of   Joliet, 
De  Lery,  De  Ramezay,  D'Eschambault,  and  Four- 
nier.      Mgr.   Taschereau,    Mgr.    Tache,   and   Arch- 

*  This  is  a  reference  to  Le  Clercq's  account  of  the  first  wed- 
ding in  Canada.  "Meantime  after  the  departure  of  the  ships, 
the  Father-Comissary  celebrated,  with  the  usual  solemnities, 
the  first  marriage  made  in  Canada.  It  was  between  the  Sieur 
Stephen  Jonquest,  a  native  of  Normandy,  and  Sieur  Hebert 's 
eldest  daughter.  He  married  the  second  some  years  after  to 
Sieur  Couillard,  whose  posterity  has  become  so  numerous  in 
Canada  that  they  number  now  over  two  hundred  and  fifty 
persons,  while  there  are  at  least  nine  hundred  connected  with 
the  family." 


The  Colonist — Hebert  131 

bishop  Blanchet  are  also  among  his  descendants. 
Madame  Hebert,  whose  personal  virtues  have 
already  been  mentioned,  was  as  good  a  colonist 
as  her  husband.  Her  attachment  to  Canada  was 
tested  in  1629  when  the  English  captured  Quebec. 
Neither  she  nor  any  of  her  family  went  back  to 
France.  The  Heberts  had  taken  root  and  become 
Canadians. 

We  have  from  Champlain's  own  lips  a  valuable 
statement  as  to  the  condition  of  things  at  Quebec 
in  1627,  the  year  when  Louis  Hebert  died.  "We 
were  in  all,"  he  says,  "sixty-five  souls,  including 
men,  women,  and  children."  Of  the  sixty-five 
only  eighteen  were  adult  males  fit  for  hard  work, 
and  this  small  number  must  be  reduced  to  two  or 
three  if  we  include  only  the  tillers  of  the  soil. 
Besides  the  French  at  Quebec,  a  few  adventurous 
spirits  were  away  in  the  woods,  living  among  the 
Indians,  learning  their  language  and  endeavour- 
ing to  exploit  the  beaver  trade.  Such,  in  short, 
was  the  state  of  things  at  the  end  of  thirty  years 
from  the  time  when  a  monopoly  of  trade  had  first 
been  given  out,  and  after  that  monopoly  had  passed 
through  seven  or  eight  hands.  No  one  seemed 
able  to  persuade  respectable  citizens  to  emigrate 
in  any  numbers,  or  rather  the  fur  companies  sys- 
tematically eluded  their  promises  to  promote  colo- 
nisation. 

At  this  juncture  Richelieu  appears  on  the 
scene.  In  1626  he  had  told  the  Assembly  of  Nota- 
bles that  there  was  every  reason  why  France 
should  control  the  sea,  and  draw  wealth  from  the 
operations    of    great    trading    companies.     But    in 


132  The  Colonist — Hebert 

his  opinion  a  company  conducting  business  over 
seas  on  a  large  scale  must  be  strong  and  represen- 
tative. His  diagnosis  of  the  failure  to  build  up 
New  France  was  that  the  right  people  had  not 
taken  hold  of  the  project  He  felt  the  folly  of 
losing  all  hold  upon  the  American  continent,  and 
threw  himself  with  much  vigour  into  a  plan  for 
the  active  development  of  Canada.  Hence  there 
arose  the  Company  of  New  France,  which  is  more 
commonly  called  the  Company  of  the  Hundred 
Associates.  Richelieu  undoubtedly  hoped  that 
this  organisation  would  do  for  French  inter- 
ests in  America  what  the  East  India  Company 
succeeded  in  doing  for  Enghsh  interests  in  India. 
His  own  name  heads  the  list  of  members,  followed 
by  those  of  the  Minister  of  Finance  and  the  Min- 
ister of  Marine.  The  other  associates  were  drawn 
from  every  part  of  France,  even  from  Champagne 
on  the  eastern  fringe  of  the  country,  far  away 
from  the  sea.  Nobles,  wealthy  merchants,  and 
small  traders  were  all  represented  in  this  venture 
which  Richelieu  hoped  would  assume  a  thoroughly 
national  character.  Twelve  titles  of  nobility  were 
distributed  among  the  shareholders  to  help  in  the 
enlistment  of  capital,  and  with  bright  prospects 
the  Company  began  its  existence  in  1627. 

Obviously  the  Company  of  the  Hundred  Asso- 
ciates was  a  larger  and  more  important  concern 
than  any  which  had  attempted  to  develop  Canada 
before  1627.  It  received  a  monopoly  of  trade  for 
fifteen  years,  and  promised  in  return  to  take  out 
three  hundred  colonists  a  year  during  the  whole 
period  covered  by  the  grant.     The  Company  also 


The  Colonist — Hebert  133 

received  the  St.  Lawrence  valley  in  full  ownership. 
One  notable  provision  of  the  charter  was  that  only 
Roman  Cathohcs  should  be  sent  to  New  France 
as  colonists,  and  the  Company  was  placed  under 
special  obUgation  to  maintain  three  priests  in 
each  settlement,  until  the  colony  could  support 
its  own  clergy. 

When  we  remember  that  this  Company  of 
the  Hundred  Associates  controlled  the  affairs  of 
Canada  for  thirty-six  years  (save  for  the  three 
years  when  the  English  were  in  possession),  its 
importance  becomes  manifest.  Moreover,  the  gen- 
eration which  falls  between  1627  and  1663  was 
just  the  time  when  the  English  colonies  from 
Virginia  to  Massachusetts  were  taking  form  and 
gaining  soUdity.  What,  at  this  critical  moment 
when  England  and  France  were  laying  the  ground- 
work of  their  colonial  systems,  can  be  said  for  the 
Company  of  the  Hundred  Associates?  Did  it 
render  any  great  service  to  France?  Did  it  live 
up  to  its  obligations?  Did  it  manage  to  derive 
profit  from  the  fur  trade,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
promote  active,  healthy  colonisation? 

The  plain  answer  to  such  questions  is  that  the 
Company  lost  its  charter  in  1663  because  it  had 
not  discharged  the  duties  which  it  assumed  along 
with  the  monopoly.  We  may  take  its  operations 
really  to  begin  with  1632,  when  the  Enghsh  gave 
back  Canada  to  France.  Had  the  original  promise 
been  fulfilled,  the  Company  should  have  brought 
over  in  the  next  eleven  years,  that  is,  before  the 
expiration  of  its  first  monopoly,  three  thousand 
three  hundred  settlers.     But  in  1642,  when  Mon- 


134  The  Colonist — Hebcrt 

tieal  was  founded,  the  entire  colony  contained, 
according  to  DoUier  de  Casson,  but  two  hundred 
and  forty  inhabitants.  M.  Rameau  places  the 
number  at  three  hundred,  but  this  is  the  largest 
estimate.  And  there  are  included  in  the  three 
hundred  every  man,  woman,  and  child  from  Tadous- 
sac  to  Lake  St.  Louis.  Not  a  great  showing, 
surely!  We  cannot,  of  course,  follow  the  growth 
of  the  population,  step  by  step,  but  in  1663,  when 
the  Company  went  out  of  existence,  the  inhabi- 
tants of  New  France  numbered  twenty-five  hun- 
dred. This  very  moderate  total  includes  both 
sexes,  all  ages,  and  the  descendants  of  the  earUer 
settlers,  no  less  than  adults  brought  out  by  the 
Company. 

Much  time  might  be  consumed  in  describing 
the  difficulties  which  the  Company  of  the  Hundred 
Associates  encountered,  and  the  stages  of  its  decline. 
But  here  we  are  more  concerned  with  the  colonists 
and  their  life  in  Canada  than  with  the  fortunes 
of  the  corporation  which  brought  them  to  the 
banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  A  great  deal  of  dis- 
cussion has  arisen  over  the  wisdom,  or  unwisdom, 
of  excluding  Huguenots.  On  the  one  hand,  it  is 
pointed  out  that  serious  trouble  would  have  arisen 
from  bringing  into  the  colony  the  religious  dis- 
cords of  the  mother  land.  How  could  Richelieu, 
it  is  asked,  fight  Calvinism  in  France  and  suffer 
it  to  spread  in  New  France?  Another  objection 
to  letting  Huguenots  settle  in  Canada  may  be 
found  in  the  likelihood  that  dislike  of  the 
Catholics  might  have  led  them  to  join  hands  with 
the   Calvinistic    Dutch,    on    the    Hudson,    or    the 


The  Colonist — Hebert  135 

Calvinistic  English  of  Massachusetts.  The  whole 
question  seems  to  hinge  on  this  point.  Would 
the  Huguenots,  if  permitted  to  settle  in  Canada, 
have  acted  as  Frenchmen  first,  or  Protestants 
first?  If  as  Frenchmen,  they  must  have  proved  an 
invaluable  aid  in  opening  up  the  West,  and  in  all 
other  forms  of  colonial  activity.  If,  on  the  con- 
trary, they  would  have  acted  first  as  Protestants, 
they  might  well  have  wrecked  French  interests 
in  America  from  the  outset, — by  which  is  meant 
that  they  might  have  wrecked  French  interests 
as  conceived  of  by  RicheUeu.  In  connection  with 
this  subject  it  may  be  worth  while  to  mention 
Mr.  Fosdick's  book  entitled  The  French  Blood  in 
America.  Mr.  Fosdick,  despite  his  title,  has 
nothing  whatever  to  say  about  the  French  on  the 
St.  Lawrence.  By  The  French  Blood  in  America ^ 
he  means  The  Huguenots  in  the  United  States. 
His  main  proposition,  which  may  appear  fantastic, 
is  that  the  alertness,  the  mental  quickness,  the 
inventiveness,  the  "knack"  which  the  people  of 
the  United  States  possess,  are  all  due  to  their 
French  origin.  Whatever  makes  the  American 
less  stupid  than  the  Enghshman,  flows,  Mr.  Fosdick 
thinks,  from  a  French  source.  In  support  of  this 
view  he  gives  a  long  list  of  distinguished  Americans 
who  were,  or  are,  descended  from  Huguenot  refu- 
gees,— a  list  which  includes  the  Reveres,  Faneuils, 
Danas,  Fremonts,  Girards,  Thoreaus,  Bowdoins, 
and  Lecontes. 

We  need  not  turn  aside  from  our  subject  to 
discuss  the  larger  issue.  This  much,  however, 
may    be    said.    The    Calvinist,    whether    EngUsh, 


136  The  Colonist — Hebert 

French,  or  Dutch,  has  made  an  extremely  tena- 
cious colonist  in  all  quarters  of  the  globe.  But 
time  was  required  to  prove  this.  Moreover,  the 
Huguenots  had  often  been  guilty  of  factious  opposi- 
tion to  the  French  crown.  It  seems  clear  that 
France  as  a  nation  suffered  grievous  loss  by  not 
letting  the  Huguenots  form  colonies  of  their  own, 
with  the  sanction  of  the  home  government.  Still, 
we  must  look  at  the  predicament  from  Richeheu's 
standpoint.  If  he  suffered  Huguenots  to  enter 
New  France,  local  broils  would  be  sure  to  arise, 
and  he  played  for  safety  in  keeping  them  out. 
Huguenots  might  trade  in  the  colony  if  they  would 
not  worship  openly,  but  after  1628  they  were 
expressly  forbidden  to  settle  there,  or  even  to  spend 
the  winter. 

One  reason  why  the  Company  of  the  Hundred 
Associates  did  not  succeed  better,  is  that  Richelieu 
failed  to  enlist  among  its  members  the  elite  of  the 
French  nobility.  Its  movements  were  also  ham- 
pered by  lack  of  capital.  Though  strong  in  com- 
parison with  previous  companies  controlling  the 
fur  trade,  it  was  not  strong  enough.  Finally,.^ 
Richelieu  looked  upon  New  France  as  though  it 
were  simply  another  province  of  France,  to  be 
ruled  autocratically  from  Paris  through  the  usual 
mechanism  of  governor  and  intendant.  No  large 
number  of  Frenchmen  would  expatriate  them- 
selves unless  they  saw  that  they  could  better 
their  condition.  The  inducements  held  out  were 
not  adequate.  A  modern  immigration  agent  of 
the  Dominion  of  Canada  could  have  furnished 
Cardinal  Richelieu  with  many  useful  suggestions. 


The  Colonist— Hebert  1 37 

Nevertheless  one  must  not  dwell  too  much 
upon  the  discouraging  side  of  French  colonisation 
prior  to  1663.  From  1632  onward  one  finds  an 
ever-increasing  number  of  settlers  who  belong  in 
the  same  class  with  Louis  Hebert;  that  is,  of 
colonists  who  have  made  Canada  their  permanent 
home,  and  are  not  mere  hangers-on  of  the  fur  trade. 
Presently  we  shall  consider  the  character  of  the 
immigrants  who  arrived  after  1632,  and  connect 
them  with  the  districts  in  France  from  which  they 
came.  But  before  doing  this  it  seems  best  to  say 
a  few  words  about  the  seigniorial  system,  and  its 
general  effect  upon  the  settlement  of  Canada.  No 
feature  of  life  under  the  Old  Regime  is  more  gen- 
erally famous  than  the  presence  in  the  colony  of 
seigneurs,  with  their  fiefs,  their  tenants,  and  their 
manor  houses.  In  the  eyes  of  many,  a  glamour 
of  romance  is  shed  upon  the  toil  and  privations 
of  New  France  by  the  trappings  of  a  belated  feu- 
dalism. Unfortunately  a  good  deal  of  haziness 
exists  upon  two  important  points:  first,  the  nature 
of  feudalism  in  Europe,  and  secondly,  the  relations 
between  feudalism  and  the  seigniorial  system. 
Here  we  encounter  a  question  of  some  practical 
moment,  as  one  shall  hope  to  explain. 

M.  Suite  opens  his  chapter  on  Seigniorial  Ten- 
ure with  these  words:  "A  wide-spread  misunder- 
standing has  been  caused  by  the  confusion  of  our 
system  of  land  tenure  with  the  feudal  system. 
The  feudal  system  no  more  corresponds  to  the 
seigniorial  regime  in  Canada  than  the  term  Yankee 
defines  an  Englishman,  though  the  two  people 
are  by  origin   the  same."     **The  feudal  regime,'* 


138  The  Colonist— Hebert 

continues  M.  Suite,  "as  it  existed  in  New  France, 
has  proved  a  great  stumbling-block  to  historians 
of  English  speech.  The  word  feudalism  takes 
them  back  to  the  Middle  Ages,  and  there  they 
become  lost."  It  seems  to  me  that  here  we  have 
a  very  useful  warning  against  a  common  error. 
And  the  error  is  not  one  of  the  harmless  variety. 
Many  Enghsh  Canadians  of  imperfect  education 
look  upon  the  French  habitant  of  the  Old  Regime 
as  though  he  were  a  down-trodden  serf,  with  no 
rights,  no  freedom  of  spirit,  and  no  backbone. 
Nor  is  the  opinion  confined  to  the  man  in  the 
street.  Let  me  quote  a  passage  which  occurs 
on  page  388  of  Mr.  A.  G.  Bradley's  Fight  with 
France  for  North  America.  Referring  to  the 
French  Canadians  as  they  were  before  1760,  he 
says:  "They  had  been,  in  fact,  slaves — slaves 
to  the  corvees  and  unpaid  military  service — 
debarred  from  education  and  crammed  with  gross 
fictions  and  superstitions  as  an  aid  to  their 
docility  and  their  value  as  food  for  powder." 
There  is  more  than  one  mistake  in  this  sentence, 
but  what  I  am  concerned  to  point  out  just  now 
is  that  the  habitant  was  not  a  slave. 

The  seigniorial  system  in  Canada  dates  from 
1627,  when  Richelieu  founded  the  Company  of 
the  Hundred  Associates.  This  Company  received 
from  Louis  XI I L  the  whole  of  New  France  with 
full  ownership,  seigniory,  and  justice.  It  had  in 
conformity  with  this  general  grant  the  right  to 
create  out  of  the  enfiefed  land  even  duchies  and 
marquisates — subject  to  the  royal  consent.  How- 
ever, to  create  duchies  in  a  land  without  inhabi- 


The  Colonist — Hebcrt  139 

tants  would  have  been  absurd,  and  so  the  Com- 
pany contented  itself  with  erecting  seigniories. 
The  right,  then,  to  found  seigniories  was  granted 
in  1627,  but  the  general  estabUshment  of  the 
seigniorial  regime  in  Canada  dates  only  from  the 
restoration  of  the  country  to  France  in  1632.* 
Having  already  suffered  heavy  losses  the  Company 
found  it  impossible  to  fulfil  the  promises  it  had 
made  regarding  colonisation.  A  clever  idea  then 
suggested  itself.  Instead  of  incurring  expense  to 
bring  over  settlers,  why  not  create  seigniories 
for  the  benefit  of  those  who,  in  return,  would 
undertake  this  duty?  In  other  words,  the  Com- 
pany was  willing  to  sublet  a  portion  of  its  obliga- 
tions to  men  of  enterprise  in  France,  who  would 
people  Canada  in  return  for  seigniories  and  sei- 
gniorial status. 

One  does  not  observe  any  great  rush  of 
dukes,  marquises,  and  counts  to  the  banks  of  the 
St.  Lawrence.  The  grandees  of  France  were  quite 
content  to  remain  at  home.  The  seigniories 
offered  by  the  Company  of  the  Hundred  Associates 
had  no  charm  for  them — the  owners  of  chateaux 
on  the  Loire  and  the  Garonne.  But  there  was  a 
type  of  man  in  France  to  whom  this  suggestion 
appealed  with  some  force.  The  colonising  seigneur 
is  seen  to  perfection  in  Robert  Giffard,  to  whom 
was  granted  in  1634  the  seigniory  of  Notre-Dame 
de  Beauport,  near  Quebec,  stretching  for  a  league 
along   the  river  and  running  back  a  league   and 

*Only  three  seigniories  had  been  granted  prior  to  1627; 
those,  namely,  in  favour  of  Louis  Hubert,  Guillaume  de  Caen, 
and  the  Jesuit  Fathers. 


140  The  Colonist — Hebert 

a  half.  Giffard  was  a  physician  who  had  been 
in  Canada  before  the  capture  of  Quebec  by  Kirke. 
In  France  he  had  Httle  chance  of  becoming  an 
important  person.  In  Canada,  on  the  contrary, 
there  was  no  reason  why  he  should  not  gain  the 
status  of  a  gentleman,  if  only  he  could  exploit 
his  seigniory  by  subdividing  it  among  a  certain 
number  of  tenants.  The  Company  gave  him  the 
fief  on  terms  which  made  it  advantageous  for  him 
to  colonise  it,  and  in  turn  stipulated  that  every 
settler  he  brought  to  Canada  should  count  in 
diminution  of  the  number  for  which  the  Company 
was  responsible.  Giffard,  having  been  treated 
liberally  by  the  Hundred  Associates,  acts  Uberally 
towards  his  tenants.  He  returns  to  his  native 
district  of  La  Perche,  and  enhsts  colonists  from 
the  neighbourhood  of  Mortagne.  Mark  that  he 
is  not  looking  for  convicts.  He  wants  hardwork- 
ing, self-respecting,  hardy  people  who  will  give 
real  assistance  in  the  development  of  that  sei- 
gniory at  Beauport.  Giffard  has  been  in  Canada, 
knows  the  country  well,  and  selects  his  retainers 
with  an  eye  to  their  fitness.  Ever^i:hing  is  done 
in  order  and  with  regard  to  law.  For  example, 
Giffard  before  a  notary  grants  a  fief  of  a  thousand 
arpents  to  Jean  Guyon.  Jean  Guyon  is  only  a 
simple  artisan,  but  presumably  he  is  a  good  worker. 
Doubtless  he  is  ambitious.  Instead  of  having  an 
arpent  at  Mortagne  is  it  not  better  to  have  a  thou- 
sand at  Beauport?  Sancho  Panza  wanted  the 
governorship  of  an  island.  Robert  Giffard,  a  phy- 
^  sician,  wishes  to  live  like  a  gentleman  on  his  own 
,  seigniory.     Jean  Guyon,  an  artisan,  wishes  to  have 


The  Colonist — Hebert  141 

a  farm  of  a  thousand  arpents.  Altogether,  Giffard 
stands  credited  with  having  stimulated  that  emi- 
gration from  La  Perche  which  gave  French  Can- 
ada some  of  its  best  blood. 

The  example  thus  set  in  1634  had  a  considerable 
effect,  and  before  1640  twelve  more  seigniories 
had  been  granted  by  the  Company  on  terms  which 
stimulated  colonisation  through  private  effort. 
Of  these  perhaps  the  most  interesting  was  that 
established  at  Beaupre  in  favour  of  La  Regnard- 
iere,  a  lawyer  attached  to  the  Parlement  of  Paris. 
The  exploitation  of  individual  seigniories  we  can- 
not follow  in  detail,  nor  can  we  pause  to  see  how 
this  form  of  colonial  activity  was  checked  by  Jean 
de  Lauson.  It  must  suffice  to  examine  rapidly 
the  position  of  the  seigneur,  and  the  nature  of  the 
relations  which  existed  between  him  and  his  ten- 
ant, or  censitaire. 

The  seigneur  received  his  land  without  money^ 

payffient — first  from  the  Company  of  the  Hundred 
Associates,  and  then,  after  1663,  from  the  crown. 
His  tenure  was  that  of  foi  et  hommage.  If  he  sold 
the  fief  he  had  to  pay  one  fifth  of  the  purchase 
price  to  his  feudal  superior,  though  a  liberal  dis- 
count was  allowed  for  cash.  But  while  the 
seigneur  paid  nothing  in  money,  he  accepted 
one  heavy  obligation.  He  was  given  a  certain 
length  of  time  in  which  to  clear  his  seigniory. 
If  at  the  expiration  of  this  period  the  land  was 
not  cleared,  his  title  to  it  became  forfeit.  Most 
of  the  seigneurs  were  men  of  httle  means,  and  they 
really  constituted  themselves  middlemen  between 
the    Company,  or    the    crown,    and    the    habitants. 


142  The  Colonist — Hubert 

They  reallotted  the  land  in  lesser  pieces,  receiving 
a  small  rent  instead  of  a  purchase  price,  and  im- 
posing upon  their  tenants,  or  censitaires,  the  same 
obligation  to  clear  away  the  woods  which  had  been 
laid  upon  them.  Most  of  the  seigniories  were  simple 
fiefs  which  did  not  carry  with  them  a  title  of  nobility. 
But  towards  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
several  baronies  and  one  earldom  were  created 
in  Canada  by  Louis  XIV.  The  best  known  of 
these  is  the  barony  of  Longueuil,  with  which  was 
connected  a  patent  of  nobility  that  has  been  recog- 
nised by  the  British  Government.  As  a  rule  the 
gentry  were  poor,  and  unable  to  maintain  any 
establishment  but  the  very  simplest.  To  compare 
the  manor  house  of  a  Canadian  seigneur  with  a 
manor  house  in  Normandy  or  Touraine  would  be 
absurd.  The  domestic  architecture  of  New  France 
was  far  less  elaborate  and  beautiful  than  that  of 
either  Virginia  or  Massachusetts.  Where  stone  was 
used  it  differed  little  from  the  simplest  rubble 
construction.  In  short  the  poverty,  if  nothing 
else,  of  the  seigneurs  prevented  them  from  build- 
ing castles  and  oppressing  the  masses. 

The  censitaire  takes  his  name  from  the  payments 
which,  under  the  form  of  cens  et  rentes,  he  made  to 
his  superior.  With  relation  to  the  seigneur  the 
tenant  was  a  censitaire,  but  speaking  generally 
we  are  more  familiar  with  members  of  this  class 
under  the  name  of  habitants.  The  first  fact  which 
must  be  emphasised  in  speaking  of  the  censitaire 
is  that  he  was  not  a  serf.  He  was  really  a  free 
peasant.  He  cannot  be  styled  a  vassal,  since  into 
vassalage  those  only  could  enter  who  were  of  gentle 


The  Colonist— ^Hebert  143 

birth.  At  the  same  time  he  is  marked  off  with 
equal  clearness  from  the  mediaeval  serf.  Even  in 
the  eleventh  century  there  had  been  free  censi- 
taires,  holding  farms  from  which  they  could  not  be 
removed  so  long  as  they  paid  their  stated  rent, 
unlike  serfs  who  were  attached  to  the  soil  and  at 
a  sale  went  with  it  like  cattle.  In  New  France 
the  censitaire  is  not  a  serf  who  changes  with  the 
land.  He  occupies  a  farm  of  from  one  to  two 
hundred  arpents,  for  which  he  pays  annually  not 
more  than  two  sous  an  arpent,  and  as  a  rule 
less.  Part  of  this  rent  is  payable  in  money,  but 
a  large  proportion  takes  the  form  of  natural  prod- 
uce, such  as  grain,  eggs,  and  fowls.  If  the  censi- 
taire sells  his  farm,  one  twelfth  of  the  purchase 
price  goes  to  the  seigneur  under  the  name  of  lods 
et  ventes. 

There  were  certain  other  customary  rights,  or 
banaliUs,  which  may  have  been  to  a  certain  extent 
vexatious,  but  were  in  no  sense  burdensome.  The 
most  famous  of  these  were  the  seigneur's  right  to 
have  the  censitaire  grind  his  grain  at  the  seigniorial 
mill,  and  bake  his  bread  at  the  seigniorial  oven. 
In  France  the  right  of  grinding  did  often  constitute 
an  oppression,  but  in  Canada  the  case  was  quite 
otherwise.  In  the  first  place  the  right  of  the 
oven  was  almost  never  enforced,  and  as  for  the 
right  of  the  mill,  it  was  a  burden  to  the  seigneur 
rather  than  an  advantage.  That  is  to  say,  he  had 
to  maintain  a  mill  for  the  convenience  of  the 
censitaires,  and  the  tolls  which  he  was  permitted 
to  exact  by  no  means  compensated  him  for  his 
outlay  in  erecting  it  and  keeping  it  open.     There 


144  The  Colonist — Hebert 

is  direct  evidence  to  show  that  some  of  the 
seigneurs  would  gladly  have  closed  their  mills. 
The  government,  however,  prevented  them  from 
doing  so.  Another  banaliU  which,  I  imagine,  did 
not  weigh  heavily  upon  the  censitaire  was  that 
of  giving  the  seigneur  every  eleventh  fish  caught 
in  the  river  upon  which  the  seigniory  fronted. 
As  for  dancing  around  the  seigneur's  May-pole, 
it  was,  in  most  cases,  a  pleasant  exercise,  hke 
dancing  on  the  bridge  of  Avignon.  One  may 
doubt  whether  it  was  looked  upon  in  the  days  of 
the  Old  Regime  as  a  badge  of  servility. 

The  heaviest  burden  which  the  seigniorial 
regime  entailed  was  that  of  the  corvee.)  Under 
this  obligation  the  tenant  was  bound  to  render  a 
certain  amount  of  personal  service  for  the  land 
he  received,  in  addition  to  the  payments  above 
specified.  Personal  service  always  suggests  slav- 
ery, but  those  who  were  subject  to  the  corvee  in 
New  France  do  not  resemble  slaves.  In  the  first 
place  the  corvie  was  not  a  badge  of  servility  fixed 
upon  certain  unfortunate  individuals,  but  an  obU- 
gation  assumed  by  landholders  in  proportion  to 
the  area  they  received  from  the  seigneur.  Profes- 
sor W.  B.  Munro,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for 
the  most  complete  and  thorough  study  of  this 
subject,  says  that  very  rarely  did  the  seigniorial 
demand  amount  to  more  than  six  days'  labour  in 
the  year.  Secondly,  this  obligation  of  personal 
service  could  be  commuted  by  a  small  payment 
in  money.  For  example,  on  the  seigniory  of  La 
Chevroti^re  in  1716  the  censitaire  holding  a  farm 
of  a  hundred  and  twenty  arpents  could  commute 


The  Colonist — Hebert  145 

for  the  corvee  by  paying  twenty  sous  a  year. 
There  was,  in  addition,  the  king's  corvee,  which 
resembled  the  statute  labour  requirement  still  to 
be  found  in  some  parts  of  the  Eastern  Townships. 
What  the  crown  exacted  under  this  head  was 
more  burdensome  than  the  obligation  of  the  habi- 
tant to  the  seigneur.  But  in  a  land  that  was  almost 
destitute  of  money,  roads  and  bridges  could  hardly 
have  been  built  in  any  other  way.  We  do  not 
think  of  our  Saxon  ancestors  as  slaves  because 
they  were  bound  to  give  the  state  unpaid  ser- 
vice of  the  same  kind. 

Thus  it  seems  clear  that  New  France  was  far  less 
injured  in  its  development  by  the  seigniorial  system 
than  by  the  restrictions  which  the  government  placed 
upon  all  its  subjects  in  respect  to  trade  and  liberty 
of  private  action.  In  other  words,  the  Canadians 
as  a  whole  had  just  cause  for  complaint  against 
the  system  of  administration,  but  the  censitaires 
suffered  little  from  the  operation  of  the  seigniorial 
regime.  Both  socially  and  poUtically  the  habitant 
may  have  been  less  advantageously  placed  than 
the  freehold  proprietor  of  New  England.  But  we 
must  remember  that  for  centuries  before  the 
colonial  movement  began,  France  and  England 
had  been  reacting  to  different  ideals.  The  essen- 
tial fact,  so  far  as  the  seigniorial  regime  in  Canada 
is  concerned,  is  this.  Based  upon  feudalism  it 
omitted  all  the  harsher,,  more  tyrannical  features 
of  European  feudaUsm.  'The  censitaire,  the  habi- 
tant, was  not  a  serf.  He  was  very  much  a  freeman, 
in  his  actions  and  in  the  temper  with  which  he 
faced  the  toils  and  dangers  of  the  wilderness. 


146  The  Colonist — Hebert 

Rameau  and  others  have  laid  stress  upon  the 
service  which  the  seigniorial  system  rendered  in 
bringing  about  the  colonisation  of  Canada.  Sei- 
gneur and  censitaire  were  alike  given  an  incentive 
to  clear  the  land  and  settle  upon  it  permanently. 
It  amounted  to  this,  that  land  could  be  had  for  the 
asking  by  any  one  who  would  cultivate  it  as  a 
bona  fide  settler,  while  the  speculator  was  kept 
out  by  the  provision  which  threw  back  an  uncleared 
seigniory  into  the  hands  of  the  grantor.  This 
point  seems  well  taken,  but  in  the  end  the  sei- 
gniorial system  placed  a  check  upon  good  agricul- 
ture. The  seigniory  had  a  comparatively  narrow 
frontage  on  a  great  river  like  the  St.  Lawrence 
or  the  Richelieu,  and  ran  back  a  long  distance 
towards  the  interior.  When  subdivided,  each  censi- 
taire received  a  small  frontage  with  a  great  depth. 
Such  an  arrangement  answers  well  enough  at  first, 
before  farms  come  to  be  subdivided  among  the 
children.  But  after  subdivision  has  been  carried 
on  for  several  generations,  there  appear  pieces  of 
land  which  are  mere  strips  or  ribands,  with  an 
infinitesimal  frontage  on  the  stream,  and  a  depth 
which  makes  each  farm  look  Uke  a  fish-rod.  Agri- 
culture could  not  reach  its  highest  development 
under  such  circumstances.  The  seigniorial  regime 
gave  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  its  princi- 
pal tributaries,  a  cheerful  appearance,  but  did  Uttle 
for  the  improvement  of  the  back  country. 

The  Company  of  the  Hundred  Associates  col- 
lapsed in  1663.  After  this  date  the  most  interest- 
ing episode  in  the  colonisation  of  New  France  is 
the   disbanding  of  the   Carignan   Regiment.     This 


The  Colonist— Hebert  147 

body  of  troops  was  the  first  detachment  of  regu- 
lars to  be  sent  against  the  Iroquois.  It  reached 
Canada  in  1665,  and  at  once  took  a  leading  part 
in  Tracy's  famous  chastisement  of  the  Mohawks. 
Shortly  afterwards,  the  greater  part  of  the  regi- 
ment was  recalled  to  France,  only  four  companies 
remaining  for  the  protection  of  the  colony.  But 
as  at  this  moment  Louis  XIV.  and  Colbert 
wished  to  build  up  the  population  of  Canada,  it 
was  determined  that  the  regiment  should  be 
disbanded,  and  its  members  converted  into  colo- 
nists. The  king  did  not  actually  compel  the 
officers  and  men  to  become  settlers,  but  he 
offered  special  inducements  and  made  it  difficult 
for  them  to  decline.  In  many  cases  the  change 
was  welcomed  with  alacrity.  Even  as  early  as 
1666,  six  captains  of  the  regiment  and  ten  sub- 
alterns had  decided  of  their  own  accord  to  remain 
in  Canada.  Altogether,  the  king  set  apart  about 
20,000  livres  to  assist  officers  and  men  in  buying 
what  they  needed  for  their  equipment  as  colonists. 
The  officers  became  seigneurs  and  the  men  were 
transformed  into  censitaires.  It  will  be  seen  at 
once  how  valuable  an  addition  to  the  colony  was 
such  a  body  of  settlers — men  who  had  been  trained 
in  the  best  discipline  of  European  warfare,  and 
could  organise  the  Canadian  militia  for  expedi- 
tions against  either  the  Iroquois  or  the  English. 
Altogether  the  Regiment  of  Carignan-Salieres 
was  a  fine  body  of  troops.  The  name  Carignan 
it  took  from  the  Prince  de  Carignan,  who  recruited 
it.  The  name  Salieres  recalls  the  colonel  under 
whom  it  came  to  Canada.     Before  leaving  Europe 


148  The  Colonist — Hebert 

it  had  served  with  distinction  in  the  wars  of  the 
Fronde,  and  in  the  defence  of  Christendom  against 
the  Sultan.  Few  regiments  of  that  age  could 
have  had  a  more  singular  experience.  In  1664 
it  was  fighting  against  the  Turks.  In  1665  it  was 
fighting  against  the  Mohawks.  In  1666,  and  the 
years  next  following,  it  was  beating  its  swords 
into  plough-shares  on  the  banks  of  the  RicheUeu 
and  the  St.  Lawrence. 

The  officers  of  the  Carignan  Regiment  gave 
New  France  the  nucleus  of  an  aristocracy.  With 
their  settlement  in  the  colony  we  come  upon  a 
long  Hst  of  well-known  names.  Vercheres,  La 
Durantaye,  Saint  Ours,  Chambly,  Deschamps, 
Berthier,  Baby,  Rene  Gautier  de  Varennes,  La 
Mothe,  Fromont,  and  Contrecoeur  were  among  the 
most  eminent  of  the  warriors  who  founded  families 
in  Canada,  and  took  to  the  work  of  clearing  the 
forest.  Many  of  them  sought  wives  among  the 
daughters  of  earlier  settlers,  and  once  established 
on  Canadian  soil,  these  newcomers  began  to  feel 
pride  in  a  land  where  they  immediately  took 
rank  as  natural  leaders.  In  the  eighteenth,  cen- 
tury, indeed  during  the  crisis  of  the  Seven  Years* 
War,  acute  friction  arose  between  French  regulars 
and  French  officials  on  the  one  side,  and  the  native- 
born  Canadians  on  the  other.  We  are  quite  famil- 
iar with  the  existence  of  a  similar  feeling  in  New 
England  and  New  York,  but  it  is  well  to  remember 
that  the  French  colonists  became  no  less  proud 
of  their  local  traditions  than  were  the  descendants 
of  the  Puritans.  Not  all  the  seigneurs  had  equal 
success  in  coping  with  the  labours  of  the  wilder- 


I 


The  Colonist — Hebert  149 

ness.  Some  of  them  lacked  energy  and  suffered 
their  famihes  to  become  impoverished,  but  the 
best  soldiers  of  New  France  came  from  the  sei- 
gniorial stock,  and  while  there  was  war  the  sons  of 
the  Carignan  Regiment  never  lacked  employment. 
In  Macaulay's  account  of  English  society  as  it  was 
at  the  accession  of  James  II.,  one  is  impressed  by 
the  figure  of  the  country  squire,  who  looks  like  a 
tenant  farmer  and  seeks  his  occupations  in  farm- 
ing or  hunting,  but  who  has  a  pride  of  birth  that 
could  hardly  be  exceeded  in  a  Plantagenet.  A 
French-Canadian  seigneur  of  noble  birth  lived  a 
rough  life  among  the  habitants  and  the  Indians, 
but  he  never  forgot  who  he  was.  When  war  took 
him  from  the  clearing  where  stood  his  rude  manor 
house,  he  strove  to  win  fame  by  briUiant  deeds, 
and  at  home  if  he  was  not  a  tyrant,  he  at  least 
could  act  the  patriarch. 

The  population  of  New  France  advanced  from 
two  thousand  five  hundred  in  1663  to  fifteen  thou- 
sand in  1698.  This  notable  increase  was  due 
largely  to  the  special  efforts  put  forth  by  Colbert 
and  Louis  XIV.  in  conjunction  with  Talon.  What 
measures  were  then  adopted  to  people  Canada,  we 
shall  see  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  when  consider- 
ing Talon's  pohcy  and  achievements.  But  for  the 
present  it  must  suffice  to  mention  one  further 
subject  v/hich  touches  closely  upon  the  origins  of 
French  Canada.  From  what  provinces  of  France 
did  the  ancestors  of  the  colony  come,  and  in  what 
proportions  are  these  provinces  represented  among 
the  immigrants?  Now,  it  is  well  known  that 
though  France  in  the  days  of  Louis  XIII.  and  Louis 


150  The  Colonist — Hebert 

XIV.  was  under  the  absolute  rule  of  the  king, 
provincial  divisions  still  counted  for  much,  and 
provincial  characteristics  marked  off  the  French 
people  into  a  number  of  distinct  groups.  The 
Baron  La  Hontan,  who  came  from  Gascony,  had 
many  traits  which  suggest  that  engaging  modern, 
Tartarin  de  Tarascon;  but  Robert  Giffard,  who, 
as  we  have  seen,  was  a  son  of  La  Perche,  represents 
a  different  type  altogether.  Thanks  to  the  labours 
of  Ferland,  Faillon,  and  Rameau,  we  can  tell  with 
certainty  whence  almost  every  French  Canadian 
came,  who  entered  the  colony  between  1615  and 
1666.  Ferland's  list  contains  four  hundred  and 
six  names,  and  throws  a  flood  of  light  upon 
the  origin  of  the  early  colonists.  The  Norman 
group  is  considerably  the  largest,  including  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  names  out  of  the  four 
hundred  and  six,  and  claiming  the  families  of 
Nicolet,  Marsolet,  Legardeur,  Tilly,  Repentigny, 
Hertel,  and  Le  Moyne.  Perche  supplies  fifty-one 
names,  including,  besides  Giffard,  the  famiUes  of 
Guyon,  Cloutier,  Mercier,  Maheu,  Paradis,  and 
Gagnon.  Third  in  the  list  come  the  colonists 
from  Maine  and  Anjou.  The  Poitevins,  with  those 
from  St.  Onge,  number  seventy-two,  including 
the  Garneau.  Smaller  detachments  came  from 
Brittany  and  the  He  de  France,  but  prior  to  1666 
the  south  of  France  does  not  contribute  a  single 
name. 

In  a  larger  work  it  would  be  well  worth  while 
to  take  up  the  legends  of  French  Canada  as  they 
are  associated  with  those  of  different  provinces  in 
the  mother  land,  but  this  is  a  theme  which,  how- 


The  Colonist— Hebert  151 

ever  interesting,  must  be  passed  over.  And  for 
another  chapter  we  must  reserve  a  remarkable  type 
of  Frenchman  who  lived  in  Canada,  not  as  a 
colonist  tilling  the  soil  and  leading  a  regular  Ufe 
acceptable  to  Church  and  State,  but  as  a  wild 
adventurer.  This  mauvais  sujet  roamed  the  forest 
at  will,  married  one  or  more  Indian  wives,  drank 
whiskey  hlanc  ad  libitum  rather  than  a  discretion, 
and  gave  himself  up  generally  to  the  impulses 
of  the  natural  man.  He  was  the  despair  of  the 
intendant  who  could  not  keep  him  at  home,  and 
the  bete  noir  of  the  missionary,  who  disliked  him 
because  he  sold  brandy  to  the  Indians.  Without 
feeling  disposed  to  present  an  apology  for  the 
coureur  de  bois,  I  submit  that  he  represents,  in  an 
exaggerated  form,  the  energy,  the  dash,  the  bold- 
ness, which  aU  the  early  settlers  in  New  France 
displayed  to  some  extent.  He  may  not  have 
exhaled  the  odour  of  sanctity  from  his  brandy  flask 
and  his  pouch  of  bad  tobacco,  but  at  least  he 
was  not  effete. 

Thanks  to  a  splendid  system  of  parish  registers, 
the  French  Canadians  are  able  to  trace  their 
ancestry  with  unexampled  confidence,  from  the 
first  days  of  the  colony.  No  one  can  realise 
what  the  life  of  New  France  means  until  he  has 
used  the  Abbe  Tanguay's  Didionnaire  G^n^alogique, 
which  goes  back  family  by  family  to  the  begin- 
ning, and  follows  the  descent  of  the  race  until 
recent  times.  I  find  myself  always  thinking  of 
New  France  and  New  England  in  comparison,  or 
in  contrast.  Despite  their  democratic  aspirations 
in  pohtics,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  anywhere 


152  The  Colonist — Hebert 

is  greater  store  set  upon  ancestry  than  among 
the  old  families  of  New  England.  As  early  as 
1668  William  Stoughton  said,  in  a  sermon  which 
he  preached  before  the  General  Court  of  Massa- 
chusetts, "God  sifted  a  whole  nation  that  He 
might  send  choice  grain  over  into  this  wilder- 
ness." To-day  the  same  spirit  is  revealed  in  the 
existence  of  societies  like  the  Colonial  Dames,  and 
the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution.  Some 
one  has  even  suggested  that  the  Sons  of  the  Steer- 
age Passengers  should  form  an  association.  Cer- 
tainly it  is  not  for  the  historian  to  quarrel  with 
these  fraternities  or  sisterhoods,  but  what  may 
be  pointed  out  is  this.  When  the  famiUes  of 
Hebert  and  Baby,  of  Le  Moyne  and  Gagnon,  of 
Garneau  and  Mercier  wish  to  form  a  society  in 
commemoration  of  those  who  redeemed  the  Lau- 
rentian  valley  from  the  wilderness,  no  one  need 
question  their  right  to  membership. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   SOLDIER— D'IBERVILLE 

SOME  time  ago  there  appeared  in  Flie^ende 
Blatter  a  pair  of  pictures  which  were  designed 
to  satirise  one  aspect  of  modern  civilisation.  In 
the  first,  a  benevolent  and  aged  chemist,  sur- 
rounded by  retorts  and  test  tubes,  is  holding  up 
an  elixir  which  will  lengthen  life  and  check  the 
ravages  of  disease.  In  the  second,  another  chem- 
ist, with  eyes  fierce  and  excited,  is  exclaiming 
that  he  has  invented  an  explosive  which  will  kill 
twice  as  many  men  as  can  be  slain  by  the  most 
vigorous  form  of  cordite  or  melinite.  In  contra- 
diction of  this  grim  jest,  Nobel  left  part  of  the 
fortune  which  he  had  made  through  the  invention 
of  high  explosives,  to  endow  a  Peace  Prize;  and 
soldiers  have  often  declared  that  they  end  the 
conflicts  which  others  begin.  For  example.  General 
Sherman  once  addressed  a  large  gathering  of 
clergymen  in  these  words:  *'You  are  the  true 
authors  of  war,  while  I  and  men  of  my  profession 
receive  all  the  odium  of  the  cruelty  which  it 
involves."  An  acknowledged  master  of  military 
history  has  stated  that  he  wrote  on  Napoleon's 
campaigns  and  kindred  subjects,  because  they 
interested    him    from    an    intellectual    standpoint. 

153 


154  The  Soldier — D'Iberville 

"As  for  war  itself,"  he  said,  "I  hate  it,  and  look 
upon  it  as  a  brutal,  unreasonable  way  of  setthng 
disputes." 

All  attacks  upon  war  sound  perfectly  common- 
place, because  hardly  any  one,  in  the  abstract, 
defends  this  legaUsed  way  of  destroying  human 
life.  Yet  it  is  possible  to  have  strong  convictions 
regarding  the  general  iniquity  of  bloodshed  without 
being  blind  enough  to  ignore  two  things:  first, 
that  the  fighting  instinct  has  been  imbedded  in 
man  by  unnumbered  centuries  of  struggle  for 
existence,  and  secondly,  that  war  throws  out  in 
high  relief  some  of  the  noblest  of  human  qualities, 
besides  many  of  the  worst.  We  have  now  to  con- 
sider the  military  virtues  which  the  French  Cana- 
dian displayed  during  the  seventeenth  century. 
To  condemn  him  because  he  fought  well  against 
the  English  and  the  Iroquois,  would  be  to  judge 
past  times  by  the  aspirations  of  the  Hague  Con- 
ference— a  most  ridiculous  proceeding. 

That  the  French  Canadian  of  the  Old  Regime 
did  fight  well,  is  a  fact  which  many  English  Cana- 
dians seem  to  ignore.  Over  and  over  again  one 
hears  conversations  which,  if  they  mean  anything, 
resolve  themselves  into  logic  of  this  kind.  "The 
French  Canadians  haven't  the  stuff  that  good 
soldiers  are  made  of.  See  how  easily  they  were 
beaten  by  Wolfe."  People  who  talk  thus  must 
have  given  slight  attention  even  to  the  Seven 
Years'  War,  where  Oswego,  Carillon,  and  Ste. 
Foye  are  no  less  conspicuous  than  the  great  dis- 
parity of  forces.  But  leaving  aside  the  last  struggle, 
the    exploits    of    the   French-Canadian   soldiers   in 


The  Soldier — D'lberville  155 

the  seventeenth  century  are  always  striking  and 
often  brilliant.  As  proof,  it  is  possible  to  adduce 
a  long  series  of  examples. 

The  age  which  extends  from  Champlain  to 
Frontenac  was  illuminated  in  both  hemispheres 
by  the  deeds  of  the  French  soldier.  At  the  pres- 
ent moment  France  still  stands,  more  or  less, 
under  the  shadow  of  Sedan,  but  for  the  historian 
a  single  reverse,  however  overwhelming,  cannot 
blot  out  the  memory  of  centuries.  The  bonds  of 
all  nations  are  held  by  fate,  and  it  will  not  do  to 
generalise  sweepingly  from  Sedan.  In  the  seven- 
teenth century,  at  any  rate,  France  ranked  first 
among  the  powers  of  Europe.  For  a  hundred  and 
thirty  years  before  Richelieu  plunged  his  country 
into  war  with  Spain  and  Austria,  the  best  troops 
in  Europe  had  been  the  Spanish  infantry.  From 
Gonsalvo  da  Cordova  in  1500  to  Gustavus  Adolphus 
in  1630,  nothing  could  stand  against  them.  The 
art  of  war,  however,  was  revolutionised  by  Gus- 
tavus, who  made  his  little  army  of  Swedes  the 
best  fighting  machine  of  their  age.  This  he  did 
by  introducing  much  greater  mobihty  of  action, 
and  by  perfecting  his  artillery  service.  When 
Gustavus  fought  against  the  Imperialists  at  Breiten- 
feld,  his  cannon  fired  three  shots  for  every  one 
that  was  fired  by  the  cannon  of  Tilly.  After 
Gustavus' s  death  the  best  officer  on  his  staff 
entered  the  service  of  France.  This  was  Bernard 
of  Saxe- Weimar,  who  conquered  Alsace  for  Riche- 
lieu, and  in  his  turn  gave  the  French  the  benefit 
of  what  he  learned  from  the  Swedes.  Then  eight 
years  after  Chaimplain's  death  came  the  astound- 


156  The  Soldier — D'lberville 

ing  victory  of  Rocroi,  in  which  Conde  destroyed 
the  flower  of  the  Spanish  infantry,  and  won  for 
France  the  same  kind  of  prestige  which  Spain 
had  so  long  held.  There  soon  followed  Turenne's 
spectacular  invasion  of  Bavaria,  and  the  extraor- 
dinary successes  that  marked  the  opening  of 
Louis  XIV. 's  reign.  I  dwell  for  a  moment  upon 
these  facts  because  the  whole  French  nation  was 
aglow  with  military  ardour  at  the  time  when  the 
colonisation  of  Canada  was  taking  place.  Every 
backwoodsman  who  fired  at  an  Iroquois  from 
behind  a  tree,  felt  that  he  belonged  to  the  same 
stock  with  Conde  and  Turenne.  Germany  was 
suffering  endless  humiliations  at  the  hands  of 
France  in  the  days  when  Bollard  fought  at  the 
Long  Sault,  and  when  Tracy  led  the  Carignan 
Regiment  into  the  heart  of  the  Mohawk  country. 

It  would  not  be  difficult  to  tabulate  the  quaU- 
ties  which  the  French  Canadian  displayed  in  his 
wars  with  the  Iroquois  and  the  English,  but  a 
list  of  quahties  is  not  what  we  want  at  this  stage. 
Let  us,  first  of  all,  review  some  of  the  most  striking 
incidents  in  the  strife  which  raged  for  generations 
with  these  two  foes  of  New  France.  Then  we 
shall  see  the  quahties  of  our  Canadian  in  action, 
and  be  better  able  to  draw  a  few  conclusions  regard- 
ing his  merits  and  prowess  as  a  warrior. 

One  large  subject  is  to  be  found  in  the  wars 
which  were  waged  by  the  people  of  Montreal 
against  the  Iroquois.  These,  as  an  outstanding 
chapter  in  the  history  of  New  France,  may  be 
said  to  extend  from  1644  to  1689,  that  is,  from 
the    time    when    Maisonneuve    repelled    the    first 


The  Soldier — D' Iberville 


^57 


attack  upon  his  stockade,  until  the  Lachine  Mas- 
sacre. The  first  brush  between  the  Montr ^alistes 
and  the  savages  occurred  in  1643,  the  year  after 
the  colony  was  founded.  Losing  little  time  in 
their  attack  upon  the  new  settlement,  the  Iro- 
quois came  in  considerable  force  at  the  close  of 
the  first  winter,  and  surprised  six  Frenchmen 
who  were  at  work  just  outside  the  fort.  Three 
of  these  they  killed  outright;  the  other  three  had 
the  worse  fate  of  being  carried  off  as  prisoners. 
A  few  days  afterwards  the  same  band  of  Iroquois 
ambushed  a  party  of  Hurons  who  were  bringing 
down  furs  for  the  French,  killed  a  large  num- 
ber, and  carried  off  the  cargo  in  triumph. 

This  foray  of  1643  should  be  looked  upon 
rather  as  a  reconnaissance  in  force  than  as  a  deter- 
mined attack  upon  the  Httle  company  at  Mon- 
treal. But  at  the  close  of  the  following  March 
the  Iroquois  returned  with  a  band  which  outnum- 
bered the  French  by  about  three  to  one.  Since 
Champlain's  day,  trade  with  the  Dutch  had  put 
them  in  possession  of  firearms,  and  on  this 
occasion  some  of  the  braves  were  supplied  with 
muskets.  As  soon  as  it  became  known  that 
Indians  were  in  the  neighbourhood,  many  of  Mai- 
sonneuve's  followers  began  to  clamour  for  action. 
The  event  showed  how  intrepid  was  the  leader's 
spirit,  but  recognising  the  danger  of  sallying 
out  from  the  fort,  he  held  his  people  in  check 
until  the  foe  could  be  attacked  without  disad- 
vantage. On  the  day  when  the  Montr  batistes 
first  met  the  Iroquois  in  open  fight,  the  alarm 
was    given    by    an    intelligent    dog    named    Pilot, 


I  58  The  Soldier— D'lberville 

which  had  already  done  good  service  in  warning 
the  French  of  their  enemy's  presence.  Willing  at 
last  to  try  conclusions,  Maisonneuve  left  the 
stockade  at  the  head  of  his  picked  men,  thirty 
strong,  and  all  on  their  guard  against  surprise. 
But  in  woodcraft  and  ambuscade  the  Iroquois 
were  better  versed  than  the  most  highly  civiUsed 
of  Europeans,  and  despite  Maisonneuve' s  wari- 
ness, the  war-whoop  of  a  hundred  braves  sounded 
upon  the  startled  ears  of  the  advancing  French 
when  they  were  least  expecting  it.  Maisonneuve 
at  once  ordered  his  men  to  get  behind  trees  and 
fight  each  for  himself.  While  ammunition  lasted 
the  colonists  held  their  ground,  though  three  of 
the  thirty  were  killed  and  several  others  wounded. 
To  retreat  with  steadiness  when  they  had  lost  all 
means  of  self-protection  was  a  difficult  matter, 
especially  as  the  snow  had  been  rendered  treach- 
erous by  a  March  sun.  After  floundering  about 
for  some  time  under  a  galling  fire  of  musket  balls 
and  arrows,  the  retreating  party  struck  a  sledge 
track  which  had  been  beaten  hard  in  drawing 
logs  to  the  fort.  From  this  point  it  was  saiwe 
qui  pent,  all  running  pell-mell  for  shelter  save 
Maisonneuve  who,  as  though  on  parade,  brought 
up  the  rear.  In  each  hand  he  held  a  pistol  that 
had  not  yet  been  discharged,  and  kept  the  sav- 
ages at  bay  until  the  others  had  come  within  can- 
non shot  of  the  fort.  Seeing  in  him  the  leader, 
the  Iroquois  were  anxious  not  to  kill  one  whom 
it  would  be  much  more  creditable  to  take  alive 
and  torture.  In  the  last  moments  of  this  drama 
it  became  a  duel  between  the  Iroquois  chief  and 


The  Soldier— D'Iberville  159 

Maisonneuve,  the  chief  greedy  to  gain  the  renown 
of  capturing  a  French  hero  with  his  own  hand. 
After  Maisonneuve's  first  pistol  had  missed  fire 
the  hopes  of  Montreal  grew  for  an  instant  dim, 
but  with  the  second  he  shot  the  chief  through 
the  head,  and  made  good  his  escape  while  the 
Iroquois  were  occupied  in  carrying  off  their  dead 
leader.  The  scene  of  this  exploit  was  perhaps 
the  very  spot  where  Maisonneuve's  statue  now 
stands  in  the  Place  d'Armes  of  Montreal;  if  not 
exactly  in  the  Place  d'Armes,  it  could  not  have 
been  more  than  a  stone's  throw  distant.  There 
is  an  interesting  passage  in  Faillon's  Histoire  de 
la  Colonic  Franfaise,  where  this  Sulpician  author 
points  out  how  for  twenty-six  years  Maisonneuve 
ran  innumerable  risks  in  war  against  the  Iroquois, 
but  escaped  from  every  predicament  into  which 
his  bravery  and  devotion  brought  him.  No  one 
can  doubt  that  he  came  to  Montreal  in  the  spirit 
of  a  martyr,  expecting  to  be  slain  by  the  Iro- 
quois, and  anticipating  the  eternal  reward  which 
those  gain  who  perish  in  a  holy  war. 

It  is  impossible  to  describe  all  the  encounters 
that  took  place  between  the  Iroquois  and  the 
little  band  of  colonists  at  Montreal;  but  among 
them  there  is  one  deed  of  surpassing  valour — the 
most  heroic  in  Canadian  history.  This  was  Bol- 
lard's fight  at  the  Long  Sault.  At  Thermopylae 
the  Spartans  and  their  allies  were  not  doomed  to 
certain  destruction.  Save  for  an  unexpected  act 
of  treachery,  they  might  have  come  off  with  a 
comparatively  small  loss.  But  for  Bollard  and 
his  men  there  was  no  chance  of  escaping  death. 


i6o  The  Soldier — D'Iberville 

This  they  knew  from  the  outset,  and  consider 
the  doom  which  would  have  been  theirs  had  the 
Iroquois  taken  them  aUve!  The  war  of  Greek 
and  Persian  was  honest  warfare  in  which  hfe  might 
be  taken  on  a  large  scale,  but  without  needless 
barbarity.  Those  who  fought  the  Iroquois  with 
the  certainty  of  defeat  knew  that  capture  meant 
something  beyond  words  more  hideous  than  death 
in  battle.  It  is  no  bombast  to  style  this  combat 
at  the  Long  Sault,  the  Canadian  Thermopylae. 

The  story  of  Bollard's  exploit  comes  down 
to  us  from  three  main  sources.  First,  from  a  letter 
of  Mother  Marie  de  ITncarnation  written  shortly 
afterwards;  secondly,  from  the  Jesuit  Relations 
under  the  year  1660;  and  thirdly,  from  Dollier 
de  Casson's  Histoire  du  Montn^al,  written  a  few 
years  later,  but  representing  contemporary  evi- 
dence in  the  strictest  sense.  The  account  of  the 
fight  itself  was  pieced  together  from  the  reports 
of  some  traitorous  Hurons,  who  abandoned  Dollard 
and  escaped  through  their  treachery.  No  single 
Frenchman  survived  to  tell  the  tale.  Of  course, 
what  Dollard  and  his  band  did  up  to  the  time  of 
the  fight  is  known  from  abundant  testimony 
besides  that  of  the  Hurons. 

The  facts  in  their  sheer  simplicity  are  these, 
and  no  amount  of  rhetoric  can  make  them  more 
impressive.  In  the  spring  of  1660  it  became 
known  at  Montreal  that  the  Iroquois  were  gath- 
ering, partly  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Ottawa 
and  partly  on  the  Richelieu,  for  a  raid  which  should 
eclipse  anything  they  had  yet  attempted.  Alto- 
gether  nearly   a   thousand   braves,    as   the   event 


The  Soldier— D'Iberville  1 6 1 

showed,    were   mustering   for   a   descent   on   Mon- 
treal,  whose   adult    male   defenders    at    that    date 
could  have  been  little  more  than  a  hundred.     There 
had  recently  come  to  this  outpost  of  New  France 
a   youth   named  DoUard,  or   Daulac,  who   longed 
to   do  some  great  feat  of  arms  that  might  save 
the  colony  from  its  cruel  foes.     Maisonneuve  had 
never   been   able  to   risk  offensive   warfare   owing 
to    poverty    of    numbers.     One    bad    blow    in    the 
open    would    have    meant    complete    ruin,    so    he 
hung  to  his  defences.     DoUard's  project  was  good 
strategy,  but  its  execution  involved  almost  super- 
human courage.     A  thrust,   said  Moltke,  is  often 
the  best  parry.     Anticipating  this  dictum,  Dollard 
proposed   to   ambush   the   Iroquois   on   their   way 
down   the   Ottawa,    and   give   them   such   a   taste 
of  French  courage  that  they  would  not   dare  go 
on  with  their  expedition.     The  comrades  he  singled 
out    for   this   desperate   enterprise   numbered   six- 
teen, though  more  would  have  been  glad  to  join 
but   for  the   duty  of  putting  in  the  year's   crop. 
From  the  notarial  records  of  Montreal  the  name 
of  each  volimteer  can  be  made  out,  together  with 
his   profession   and   the   amount   of   his   property; 
for  each  made  his  will  before  starting,  and  received 
the  Sacrament. 

The  party  set  out  in  canoes  on  the  20th  of 
April,  1660,  but  they  were  inexperienced  paddlers 
and  found  much  trouble  in  getting  into  the  Lake 
of  Two  Mountains.  However,  by  keeping  at  it 
for  ten  days  they  succeeded  not  only  in  doing 
this,  but  in  passing  the  current  at  Carillon.  By 
May  1st  they  had  reached  the  foot  of  the  Long 


1 62  The  Soldier — D'Iberville 

Sault  on  the  Ottawa,  and  there  found  a  spot  which 
the  Iroquois  in  descending  would  be  sure  to  pass. 
Some  Algonquins  had  recently  built  a  rude,  poorly 
constructed  fort  at  the  foot  of  the  rapid,  and  this 
DoUard  at  once  occupied.  Here,  also,  he  was 
joined  by  a  party  of  over  forty  Hurons  and  Algon- 
quins, who  professed  great  zeal  to  fight  the  Iro- 
quois, but  whose  deeds,  in  the  event,  by  no  means 
equalled  their  professions. 

The  confederates  were  not  long  kept  waiting. 
Shortly  after  Dollard  had  arranged  his  ambush, 
a  small  band  of  Iroquois,  moving  ahead  of  the 
main  party,  descended  the  river  and  fell  into  the 
snare.  But  not  all  were  slain.  Two  or  three 
escaped  and  gave  the  alarm  to  the  rest  who,  instead 
of  being  ambushed,  began  a  deliberate  attack 
upon  DoUard's  fort,  first  erecting  a  stronghold 
of  their  own  nearby.  Seeing  that  he  would  be 
besieged  Dollard  improved  his  defences,  and  built 
a  breastwork  of  earth  and  stones  which  was 
pierced  by  loopholes.  The  French  had  no  chance 
of  retreat,  for  the  Iroquois  made  haste  to  seize 
and  destroy  their  canoes.  It  was  a  fight  without 
hope  of  escape,  or  of  mercy. 

The  savages  began  by  attempting  to  burn 
out  the  French,  but  before  the  fierceness  of  the 
musketry  fire  which  met  them,  they  recoiled,  hav- 
ing lost  among  many  others  the  chieftain  of  all 
the  Senecas.  After  three  successive  attacks  had 
been  beaten  back,  the  Iroquois  paused  to  consider 
the  situation  more  carefully.  Taking  counsel,  their 
resolve  was  that  messengers  should  be  sent  to  a 
war  party  of  five  hundred  which  had  descended 


The  Soldier— D'lberville  163 

the  RicheHeu,  and  was  waiting,  near  Sorel,  the 
appearance  of  this  band  that  DoUard  had  way- 
laid. In  the  meantime  the  French  were  so  care- 
fully hemmed  in  that  it  became  almost  impossible 
to  fetch  water  from  the  Ottawa.  For  five  days 
they  fasted  and  thirsted,  while  reinforcements 
were  on  their  way  to  swell  the  ranks  of  the  Iro- 
quois. When  the  two  war  parties  had  come 
together,  there  were  some  seven  hundred  shriek- 
ing savages  outside  the  rude  pile  of  logs  which 
DoUard  was  defending  with  his  sixteen  French- 
men, forty  Hurons,  and  four  Algonquins.  Hardly 
had  the  attack  been  renewed  when  most  of  the 
Hurons  deserted,  so  that  during  the  last  three 
days  of  the  fight  DoUard  could  muster  less  than 
twenty-three  followers,  all  told,  as  against  seven 
hundred.  The  best  resource  of  the  French  was 
in  a  number  of  large  musketoons,  which  carried 
a  very  heavy  charge  and  scattered  widely.  These 
caused  such  havoc  in  the  ranks  of  the  Iroquois 
that  some  were  for  giving  up  the  attack  altogether. 
But  thought  of  the  shame  which  would  follow 
upon  repulse  by  so  small  a  band,  nerved  the 
majority.  Leaders  of  a  forlorn  hope  were  selected, 
and  after  many  unsystematic  assaults  had  been 
foiled,  it  was  resolved  that  there  should  be  a  grand, 
concerted  attack.  This,  it  must  be  remembered, 
was  after  the  Frenchmen  within  the  fort  had 
been  holding  out  for  ten  days  on  dry  hominy, 
and  such  water  as  they  could  get  by  digging  a 
hole  in  the  ground,  until  it  reached  the  level  of 
the  river.  Almost  no  water  seems  to  have  been 
brought    from    the    river  itself,  and  the  moisture 


164  The  Soldier — D'lberville 

collected  in  the  hole  must  have  been  half  mud. 
Massena's  defence  of  Genoa  in  1800  was  stub- 
born, but  it  contains  no  episode  like  this. 

When  the  Iroquois  rushed  forward  in  their 
last  grand  attack,  DoUard  had  still  one  resource. 
By  filling  a  musketoon  with  powder,  he  impro- 
vised a  rude  grenade,  and  as  the  savages  came 
on  in  a  dense  mass  this  was  hurled  into  the  air 
to  alight  in  their  midst.  But  here  occurred  a 
mischance  which  seems  the  most  tragic  incident 
in  the  whole  affair.  The  musketoon,  instead  of 
falling  among  the  Iroquois,  struck  the  branch 
of  an  overhanging  tree,  and  falling  back  into  the 
fort  exploded  among  the  French.  Some  were 
killed  and  others  badly  wounded.  "But,"  says 
Dollier  de  Casson,  "despite  this  catastrophe  every 
man  fought  as  though  he  had  the  heart  of  a  lion, 
defending  himself  with  sword  thrusts  and  pistol 
shots."  DoUard  was  among  the  first  to  be  slain, 
but  undeterred  by  his  death  the  rest  fought  on 
with  sword  and  hatchet  till  they  were  cut  down 
one  by  one.  Fortunately  when  the  fight  was 
over,  the  Iroquois  found  only  a  single  survivor  who 
was  enough  alive  to  be  kept  for  torture.  Three 
who  were  not  quite  dead,  they  burned. 

Thus  ended  a  feat  of  arms  which  must  be  called 
the  most  heroic  episode  in  Canadian  history. 
Many  other  Canadians,  both  French  and  English, 
have  died  bravely  and  ungrudgingly,  doing  what 
it  was  given  them  to  do.  But  the  splendid  daring 
of  Bollard's  fight,  the  boldness  of  its  conception, 
the  certainty  of  death  for  every  man  who  joined 
this  band  of  heroes,  the  agonies  endured  for  ten 


The  Soldier — D* Iberville  165 

days  in  that  wretched  fort  at  the  foot  of  the  Long 
Sault — all  these  form  a  combination  of  circum- 
stances which  were  quite  unparalleled,  until  recent 
times.  The  Japanese  have  shown  us  what  it 
is  to  fight  in  the  spirit  of  DoUard — with  the  same 
dlaUy  the  same  self-abnegation.  And  in  both  cases 
the  inspiring  motive  was  the  spirit  of  martyrdom, 
rather  than  patriotism,  as  commonly  apprehended. 

The  sequel  of  Bollard's  fight  justified  the  hope 
which  prompted  this  sally  into  the  jaws  of  death. 
The  Iroquois  found  that  they  had  had  fighting 
enough  for  one  season,  vidth  foes  who  outdid  them 
in  hardihood,  besides  possessing  better  weapons.  At 
a  sacrifice  of  seventeen  men,  Montreal  was  saved 
a  loss  which  must  have  been  far  greater  had  the 
savages  carried  out  their  first  plan  of  harrying 
the  colony  v^th  their  full  strength.  And  how, 
at  the  present  day,  does  Montreal  remember  the 
man  who  has  given  her  the  most  glorious  deed  in 
her  annals?  Is  it  by  statue,  or  boulevard,  or 
public  square?  No,  not  by  these.  But  between 
two  important  streets,  Notre-Dame  and  St.  James, 
there  runs  a  little  lane  about  sixty  paces  long, 
and  seven  or  eight  paces  wide.  This  bears  the 
name  of  DoUard.  Elsewhere,  there  is  nothing 
which  can  recall  by  daily  association  the  hero 
of  the  Long  Sault.  Mayors,  aldermen,  specula- 
tors in  land — for  these  and  other  undistinguished 
people  we  name  our  streets  in  hordes,  but  the 
sole  monument  to  DoUard  is  a  lane  so  obscure 
and  insignificant  that  not  one  Montrealer  in  ten 
could  tell  you  where  it  is. 

A    skilful    rhetorician    would    keep    the    story 


1 66  The  Soldier— D' Iberville 

of  Dollard  for  the  end,  as  it  may  well  seem  an 
anticlimax  to  pass  from  this  feat  of  arms  to  any 
other  which  falls  within  our  period.  But  if  less 
thrilling,  less  brilliant  than  Bollard's  fight,  there 
are  many  contests  between  French  and  Indians 
which  stand  out  in  high  relief  from  the  common- 
place. Life  in  the  wilderness  made  every  one 
brave.  New  France  was  no  country  for  weak 
nerves,  and  the  kind  of  heroism  which  the  dangers 
of  frontier  life  demanded  was  not  the  sensational, 
but  the  quiet,  genuine  type.  Dessaix,  leading  a 
decisive  charge  at  ^larengo,  is  in  the  eye  of  the 
whole  world;  but  what,  suggests  Montaigne,  shall 
we  say  regarding  the  courage  of  the  man  who  is 
asked  to  dislodge  a  rascally  musketeer  from  a 
barn?  No  glory  is  to  be  got  from  an  adventure 
of  that  kind,  though  it  may  be  just  as  perilous 
as  leading  a  charge  of  dragoons.  In  the  settle- 
ments of  New  France,  men,  women,  and  children 
had  to  be  ready  for  Iroquois'  raids  at  any  moment; 
and  there  is  no  more  characteristic  tale  which 
comes  down  from  this  period  than  that  of  Made- 
leine de  Vercheres.  A  girl  of  fourteen  who  with 
two  soldiers,  an  old  man  and  two  small  boys  could 
defend  a  rickety  stockade  for  ten  days,  was  not 
such  stuff  as  dreams  are  made  of.  True  self- 
possession,  unsleeping  courage,  the  willingness  to 
take  long  odds  were  traits  that  the  circum- 
stances of  every-day  life  required  from  those  who 
opened  up  the  valleys  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
the  Richelieu.  Fifty-five  years  after  the  found- 
ing of  Quebec,  the  French  population  in  Canada 
numbered    only   two   thousand    five  hundred,  and 


The  Soldier— D'Iberville  167 

there  were  seventeen  thousand  Iroquois.  The 
French  certainly  had  an  advantage  in  point  of 
knowledge,  equipment,  and  discipline,  but  the  Iro- 
quois who  possessed  the  stealth  and  cunning  of 
the  panther,  whose  knowledge  of  woodcraft  was 
perfect,  and  whose  courage  was  only  less  conspic- 
uous than  their  fierceness,  proved  a  terrible  foe. 
As  the  colonists  became  more  numerous,  the  dan- 
ger of  attack  grew  relatively  less, — the  more  so 
since  the  savages  were  decimated  by  epidemics 
and  drunkenness.  But  down  to  the  death  of 
Frontenac,  one  great  peril  always  loomed  in  the 
background. 

Were  there  opportunity  it  would  be  proper 
to  contrast  a  typical  triumph  of  the  French,  like 
Tracy's  chastisement  of  the  Mohawks  in  1665, 
with  a  typical  triumph  of  the  Iroquois,  Uke  the 
Lachine  Massacre  of  1689.  But  the  incidents  of 
the  Indian  war,  waged  as  it  was  year  by  year, 
we  must  omit,  if  we  are  to  consider  the  atti- 
tude of  the  French  towards  their  other  great 
enemy,  the  English.  So  much  remains  to  be 
said  regarding  this  second  part  of  the  subject 
that  we  must  pass  on  to  it  without  further  delay. 
After  all,  the  duel  between  New  France  and  New 
England  is  of  much  more  historical  importance 
than  the  contest  between  French  and  Iroquois. 
The  Indians  were  doomed  from  the  moment  Euro- 
peans came  among  them.  The  question  of  vital 
moment  was  not  whether  Europeans  or  Aborigines 
were  to  possess  North  America,  but  whether  the 
French  would  be  able  to  hold  their  own  against  the 
encroachments  of  the  English. 


1 68  The  Soldier— D'lberville 

At  no  time  was  there  any  likelihood  that  the 
English  would  be  driven  out  by  the  French.  Why 
the  English  colonies  were  the  more  populous,  we 
need  not  stop  to  inquire.  The  broad  fact  is  that 
from  1650  forward  they  were  vastly  more  popu- 
lous, and  even  to  reach  them  by  land  from  the 
valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  was  a  heavy  under- 
taking. That  the  thing  could  be  done  was  proved 
by  Frontenac's  raids,  but  a  swift  raid  followed 
by  an  equally  swift  retreat  is  quite  different  from 
a  war  of  conquest.  Had  France  gained  a  clear 
supremacy  upon  the  sea,  she  might  have  troubled 
the  English  colonies  in  America  a  great  deal,  but 
it  is  doubtful  whether  even  then  she  could  have 
overwhelmed  them.  As  it  was  she  never  be- 
came supreme  at  sea,  and  seldom  proved  very 
formidable  on  that  element.  Hence  the  coast 
line  of  New  England  was  virtually  exempt  from 
the  danger  of  French  invasion. 

A  similar  immunity,  however,  the  shores  of 
New  France  did  not  possess.  In  1613  Argall, 
a  freebooter  from  Virginia,  captured  and  destroyed 
the  French  station  at  St.  Sauveur  on  the  island 
of  Mount  Desert,  and  then  proceeded  to  do  dam- 
age at  Port  Royal.  In  1628  Acadia  was  once 
more  ravaged  by  the  English  under  David  Kirke, 
who  thence  sailed  for  the  St.  Lawrence  with  intent 
to  drive  the  French  from  Quebec.  Kirke's  first 
success  in  Canadian  waters  was  the  capture  of 
a  fleet  sent  out  by  the  Company  of  the  Hundred 
Associates  to  Champlain,  who  was  awaiting  it 
at  Quebec.  But  the  English  did  not  lay  siege 
to    Fort    St.    Louis    that    year.     Kirke    contented 


The  Soldier — D'lberville  169 

himself  with  sending  Champlain  a  threatening  let- 
ter, and  then  sailed  away  for  England.  In  1629 
he  returned  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  from  Tadous- 
sac  despatched  his  two  brothers  against  Quebec 
in  overwhelming  force.  The  total  population  of 
the  place  was  only  eighty,  and  the  preceding  win- 
ter had  been  one  of  great  hardship.  Kirke  having 
intercepted  the  expected  fleet,  the  inhabitants 
were  forced  to  live  for  eight  months  on  eels,  and 
whatever  else  they  could  get  through  fishing  and 
hunting.  Thus  when  Louis  and  Thomas  Kirke 
appeared  in  July  of  1629,  they  came  more  as 
saviours  than  enemies.  The  French,  reduced  by 
starvation,  could  make  no  resistance,  and  Quebec 
fell  for  the  first  time  into  the  hands  of  the  English. 
Had  Charles  L  held  what  the  Kirke  brothers 
gained  for  him,  the  subsequent  history  of  Canada 
would  have  been  quite  different.  But  England 
cared  nothing  for  a  waste  of  snow,  then  consid- 
ered little  more  valuable  than  Labrador  and 
Ungava  are  thought  to  be  at  the  present  day. 
Three  years  after  Champlain' s  surrender,  the 
French  regained  Canada  by  the  Treaty  of  St. 
Germain,  and  began  actually  to  occupy  it.  For 
the  next  forty  years  (1632-72)  the  relations  of 
England  and  France  were  such  that  neither  coun- 
try cared  to  provoke  a  quarrel  over  the  valley 
of  the  St.  Lawrence.  France  was  taken  up  with 
her  part  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  after  that 
with  the  wars  of  the  Fronde.  England  during 
the  same  period  was  absorbed  in  the  struggle 
between  Charles  L  and  Parliament,  followed  by 
the    rule    of    Cromwell.     In    foreign    politics,    the 


lyo  The  Soldier — D'Iberville 

Protector  was  an  ally  of  France  and  helped  Car- 
dinal Mazarin  against  the  Spaniards.  After  the 
Restoration  of  the  Stuarts  in  1660,  Charles  II. 
became  a  pensioner  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  during  the 
early  part  of  his  reign  did  nothing  which  could 
be  construed  as  hostile  to  French  interests  in 
America.  Thus  it  happened  that  Canada  was 
not  drawn  into  any  great  contest  between  Eng- 
land and  France  between  1632  and  1672. 

There  remain  to  be  considered  the  local  rival- 
ries of  the  French  and  English  colonists,  but  prior 
to  1675  these  had  not  forced  their  way  to  the  front. 
A  wide  stretch  of  wilderness  separated  the  north- 
ern edge  of  the  English  zone  from  the  southern 
edge  of  the  French  zone,  and  both  races  were  too 
much  absorbed  by  Indian  wars  and  the  fight 
against  famine  to  think  of  quarrelling  with  each 
other.  On  the  contrary,  there  was  at  one  moment 
a  project  for  making  common  cause  against  the 
Iroquois.  I  refer  here  to  the  interesting,  though 
fruitless,  mission  of  Gabriel  Druillettes.  This 
envoy  was  a  Jesuit  who  had  worked  with  much 
success  among  the  Abenakis  of  the  Kennebec 
valley,  and  gained  by  his  virtues  the  respect  of 
the  English,  as  their  settlements  crept  along  the 
seaboard  from  Massachusetts  towards  Acadia.  In 
1646  Druillettes  visited  a  number  of  English  posts 
between  the  Kennebec  and  Penobscot,  meeting 
everywhere  with  great  courtesy  and  kindness. 
Shortly  afterwards  the  General  Court  of  Massachu- 
setts approached  the  Company  of  the  Hundred 
Associates  with  a  proposal  for  reciprocity  of  trade. 
Under    these    circumstances    it    was    resolved    at 


The  Soldier— D'Ibcrville  171 

Quebec  that  Dniillettes  should  go  to  Plymouth 
and  Boston  as  a  special  envoy,  charged  with  two 
duties.  In  the  first  place  he  was  to  discuss  closer 
trade  relations,  in  a  spirit  of  friendship  and  com- 
promise. But  what  the  French  really  wanted 
was  the  help  of  New  England  against  the  Iroquois. 
Dniillettes  had,  then,  for  his  second  object  the 
task  of  persuading  the  New  England  colonies  to 
join  in  a  general  crusade  against  the  Five  Nations. 
Here  the  French  possessed  two  arguments.  "Join  in 
this  war,"  they  said,  "and  we  will  grant  the  greater 
freedom  of  trade  which  you  desire;  and  if  you 
do  not  feel  disposed  to  quarrel  with  the  Iroquois 
for  the  sake  of  trade,  consider  the  position  of  the 
Christian  Indians.  The  Abenakis  and  the  other 
tribes  are  being  raided  by  the  Mohawks.  Help  to 
preserve  them,  and  you  will  be  enlarging  the  king- 
dom of  Christ." 

Thus  in  1650  Druillettes  descended  the  Kenne- 
bec once  more,  and  made  his  way  from  the  mouth 
of  that  river  to  Boston  and  Plymouth.  Three 
years  earlier  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay 
had  passed  stem  laws  against  the  Jesuits,  but 
Druillettes  was  received  with  aU  the  honours  of 
an  ambassador,  and  the  respect  due  to  his  own 
character.  His  account  of  the  journey  and  of 
his  reception  by  the  Puritans,  is  among  the  best 
pieces  of  narrative  in  the  Jesuit  Relations.  That 
at  Plymouth  he  should  have  been  given  fish  on 
Friday  was  a  mark  of  consideration,  though  we 
may  guess  that  at  Plymouth  fish  was  not  an  infre- 
quent food  on  other  days.  Of  more  real  meaning 
was   the   thoughtfulness   of   the   Bostonians,    who 


172  The  Soldier  -D'lberville 

placed  at  his  disposal  a  room  wherein  he  could 
pursue  his  devotions  without  fear  of  interruption. 
But,  most  striking  incident  of  all,  the  Rev.  John 
Eliot,  the  great  apostle  of  New  England  to  the 
Indians,  met  Druillettes  and  asked  him  to  be 
his  guest  for  the  whole  winter.  The  mission 
bore  no  fruits,  but  it  was  conducted  in  a  spirit 
of  mutual  friendliness,  and  with  every  mark  of 
good  breeding. 

In  considering  thus  at  some  length  the  visit 
of  Druillettes  to  New  England,  we  may  seem  to 
stray  from  our  main  subject,  the  French  Canadian 
as  a  soldier.  But  it  is  worth  pointing  out  that 
the  burning  feuds  of  New  France  and  New  Eng- 
land do  not  begin  until  towards  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  When  they  do  arise,  the 
issues  at  stake  are  not  petty,  but  involve  the  des- 
tiny of  the  whole  continent.  The  immediate  cause 
of  trouble  was  French  exploration  in  the  West. 
Joliet  and  Marquette  had  discovered  the  Mississippi 
in  1673.  A  few  years  later  La  Salle  annexed  for 
France,  in  name  at  least,  the  entire  valley  of  this 
stream.  If  his  claims  meant  anything  they 
gave  France  the  St.  Lawrence,  the  Great  Lakes, 
and  the  Mississippi  down  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
Such  a  programme  of  expansion  implied  that  the 
Enghsh  colonies  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard  would 
be  limited  in  their  westward  growth  by  the  AUe- 
ghanies  and  the  headwaters  of  the  Ohio. 

The  first  to  take  fright  at  this  prospect  was 
Thomas  Dongan,  Governor  of  New  York.  Don- 
gan  was  an  Irish  Catholic  appointed  by  Charles  IL, 
but  more  closely  associated  with  James  II.     Owing 


The  Soldier — D'lberville  173 

to  the  personal  friendship  which  existed  between 
James  and  Louis  XIV.,  he  could  not  expect  much 
help  from  his  government  in  resisting  the  advance 
of  French  Canada.  But  he  conspired  with  the 
Iroquois  on  his  own  account,  and  may  be  looked 
upon  as  the  earliest  representative  of  an  active 
anti-French  policy  among  the  English  of  America. 
1684  was  the  date  of  his  earliest  intrigues  with 
the  Iroquois  against  the  French. 

The  period  at  which  Dongan  began  to  form 
plans  for  keeping  the  French  out  of  the  West,  falls 
within  the  interval  between  Frontenac's  two  terms 
of  office.  The  Governor  of  the  moment  was  the 
inefficient  Denonville.  It  is  true  that,  in  a  variety 
of  ways,  he  tried  to  defeat  the  schemes  of  Dongan, 
but  on  the  whole  he  proved  a  poor  guardian  of 
French  interests.  How  he  failed  to  control  the 
Iroquois  can  be  gathered  from  the  dreadful  details 
of  the  Lachine  Massacre.  Two  hundred  victims 
killed  on  the  spot,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty 
carried  into  the  horrors  of  captivity,  prove  that 
Denonville  was  not  the  Governor  required  for  the 
stormy  times  which  were  now  approaching.* 

The  battle  royal  between  New  France  and  New 
England  was  precipitated  by  the  English  Revolu- 

*  The  niimber  of  the  slain  as  here  given  comes  from  Charle- 
voix, who  repeats  what  Frontenac  said  in  a  despatch  written 
just  after  his  return  to  Canada.  Judge  Girouard,  in  his  Lake 
St.  Louis,  Old  and  New,  maintains  that  only  twenty-four  were 
killed  at  Lachine  and  forty-two  in  the  massacre  at  La  Chesnaye, 
a  short  time  afterwards.  These  figures  are  based  on  an  exam- 
ination of  parish  registers.  Whatever  the  loss  of  life,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  blow  was  felt  from  end  to  end  of  the 
colony,  and  deemed  greater  than  any  which  had  yet  been 
suffered. 


174  The  Soldier— D'Iberville 

tion  of  1688-89.  The  same  train  of  events  which 
drove  James  11.  from  his  throne,  plunged  the 
colonies  into  a  more  dire  conflict  than  had  been 
known  in  America  since  French  and  English 
came  to  its  shores.  Despite  the  machinations  of 
Dongan  and  the  counter  schemes  of  Denonville, 
James  II.  and  Louis  XIV.  remained  good  friends. 
But  with  WilUam  of  Orange  on  the  EngUsh 
throne,  the  situation  was  fundamentally  altered. 
France  and  England  then  entered  into  a  war 
which  was  prosecuted  with  vigour  in  every  part 
of  the  globe  where  the  two  nations  came  into 
contact.  Frontenac  was  sent  back  to  Canada  in 
1689  because  of  his  merits  as  a  war  Governor. 
Certainly  he  did  not  disappoint  expectation. 
Throwing  his  whole  heart  into  the  struggle  he 
dealt  blows  at  New  England  and  New  York,  which 
were  as  fierce  as  they  were  unexpected. 

In  considering  the  subject  of  Frontenac's  raids, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  the  Governor  of 
New  France  had  in  view  two  aims.  The  first, 
of  course,  was  to  injure  the  English.  The  sec- 
ond, and  this  Frontenac  kept  ever  before  him,  was 
to  impress  the  Indians  with  the  superior  courage 
and  enterprise  of  the  French.  During  the  seven 
years  of  his  absence  from  Canada  (1682-1689), 
the  Iroquois  had  been  led,  by  a  number  of  events, 
to  believe  that  the  French  were  growing  weak. 
Frontenac  sought  at  once  to  disabuse  their  minds 
of  this  idea,  and  the  methods  which  he  pursued 
were  those  most  likely  to  affect  the  imagination 
of  the  savage. 

1690  was  the  year  in  which  New  France  and 


The  Soldier— D'Iberville  175 

New   England   entered   upon   their   stem   struggle 
for  the  sovereignty  of  North  America.     One  need 
not  give  a  series  of  statistics  to  show  how  much 
greater  was  the  strength  of  the  English  in  wealth 
and  numbers,  for  a  single  illustration  will  suffice. 
The   single   colony  of  New   York   had   half   again 
as  many  inhabitants  as  the  whole  of  New  France. 
But  if  Frontenac  was  at  a  great   disadvantage  in 
point   of   numbers,   his   forces   were   more   readily 
available.     Not  only  could  he  control  his  troops 
with  fuller   authority  than  was   possessed  by   any 
colonial  governor  in  New  England,  but  New  France, 
for  military  purposes,  formed  a  unit,  whereas  the 
EngUsh  colonies  were  separate,  even  rival,  states. 
Moreover    every    French    Canadian    over    eighteen 
years   of  age  was    an    active    militia-man,    inured 
to   hardship   and  fond  of  war.     New   France   has 
one  phenomenon,  which,  I  think,  cannot  be  matched 
in  New  England.     This  is  the  family  of  from  eight 
to  fourteen  sons,  every  one  of  whom  is  a  redoubt- 
able   fighter.     The    English    colonists   were   brave, 
and    it    would    be    invidious    to     draw     a    com- 
parison  between   the   races   in   point   of   courage. 
But   families  Uke   those   of   Hertel  and  Le  Moyne 
do  not,  at  least  to  my  knowledge,  appear  in  the 
annals   of   New   England.     It   is   at   such   soldiers 
as  Francois  Hertel,  Hertel  de  Rouville,  Le  Mo3me 
d' Iberville    and    his    brother    BienviUe,    that,    in 
conclusion,  we  must  glance.    These  men,  and  scores 
of  others  like  them,  may  be  connected  with  the 
war    between    French    and    EngUsh    which    raged 
from  1690  to  1697. 

The  distinctive  feature  of  this  war,  considered 


1/6  The  Soldier — D'Iberville 

from   the   standpoint   of  Canada,   is  the   series   of 
swift,    destructive    raids    which    the    French    with 
their  Indian  aUies  made  upon  the  Enghsh  settle- 
ments.    These  began  in  1690  with  the  three  war- 
parties  organised  under  Frontenac's  orders  at  Mon- 
treal, Quebec,  and  Three  Rivers.     The  largest  band 
set   out   from   Montreal   and  was   directed  against 
Schenectady.     It   contained   a   hundred   and   four- 
teen   Frenchmen    and    ninety-six    Indians,    com- 
manded by  D'Aillebout  de  Mantel  and  Le  Moyne 
de  Sainte  Helene.     The  second  party,  proceeding 
from  Three  Rivers,  numbered  twenty-four  French- 
men  and   twenty-nine    Indians,  under   the   leader- 
ship   of    Francois    Hertel.     It    was    aimed    against 
Dover,  Pemaquid,  and  other  settlements  of  Maine 
or  New  Hampshire.     The  Quebec  party,  under  Port- 
neuf,  comprised  fifty  Frenchmen  and  sixty  Indians. 
Its  objective  point  was  the  English  colony  on  Casco 
Bay,  where  the  city  of  Portland  now  stands.     All 
three  were  successful  in  accomplishing  what   they 
aimed     at,    namely,    the    destruction    of    Enghsh 
settlements    amid    fire    and   massacre.      All   three 
employed    Indians,    and    suffered    these    allies   .to 
commit    barbarities    which    are    now    against    the 
rules  of  the  game  as  played  by  civilised  nations. 

To  fall  upon  an  unsuspecting  hamlet  and  slay  its 
inhabitants  with  the  tomahawk,  seems  much  worse 
than  to  kill  your  opponents  in  open  battle.  But 
so  far  as  adult  males  are  concerned,  the  difference 
is  more  apparent  than  real.  When  nations  are 
at  open  war  with  each  other,  each  is  supposed 
to  keep  on  its  guard.  If  caught  napping,  it  must 
take   the   consequences.     On   the  other   hand,  the 


The  Soldier — D'lberville  177 

massacre  of  women  and  children  cannot  be  exten- 
uated. There  is  this,  however,  to  bear  in  mind, 
that  during  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  which  closed 
only  a  generation  before  the  raids  of  Frontenac, 
European  warfare  abounded  with  just  such  atroci- 
ties as  were  perpetrated  at  Schenectady,  Dover, 
Pemaquid,  Salmon  Falls,  and  Casco  Bay.  The 
sack  of  Magdeburg,  and  many  another  episode  of 
European  warfare  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
will  match  whatever  was  done  by  the  Indian 
allies  of  Frontenac.  Both  are  unspeakable,  but 
the  savage  was  no  worse  than  the  German  and 
the  Spaniard.  Those  killed  were,  in  almost  all 
cases,  killed  outright,  and  the  slaughter  was  not 
indiscriminate.  At  Schenectady  John  Sander 
Glen,  with  his  whole  family  and  all  his  relations, 
was  spared  because  he  and  his  wife  had  shown 
kindness  to  French  prisoners  taken  by  the  Mohawks. 
Altogether  sixty  people  were  killed  at  Schenec- 
tady; thirty-eight  men,  ten  women,  and  twelve 
children.  Nearly  ninety  were  carried  captive  to 
Canada.  Sixty  old  men,  women,  and  children 
were  left  unharmed.  It  is  not  worth  while  to 
take  up  the  details  of  the  other  raids.  They  were 
of  much  the  same  sort — no  better  and  no  worse. 
Where  a  garrison  surrendered  under  promise  that 
it  would  be  spared,  the  promise  was  observed  so 
far  as  the  Indians  could  be  controlled;  but  Eng- 
hsh  and  French  ahke,  when  they  used  Indian 
aUies,  knew  well  that  their  excesses  could  not  be 
prevented,  though  they  might  be  moderated.  The 
captives  as  a  rule  were  treated  with  kindness  and 
clemency   when   once   the   northward   march   had 


I  78  The  Soldier — D'lberville 

ended.  One  of  them,  Esther  Wheelwright,  became 
Mother  Esther  of  the  Infant  Jesus,  and  Mother 
Superior  of  the  Ursulines  at  Quebec.  Bishop 
Plessis  of  Quebec,  who  preached  the  famous  ser- 
mon on  the  Battle  of  the  Nile,  was  descended 
from  another  of  these  New  England  captives. 

It  is  much  more  the  business  of  history  to 
explain  than  to  condemn,  or  to  extenuate.  "How 
could  a  man  like  Frangois  Hertel  lead  one  of  these 
raids,  without  sinking  to  the  moral  level  of  his 
Indian  followers?"  Some  such  question  may,  not 
unnaturally,  rise  to  the  lips  of  a  modem  reader  i 
who  for  the  first  time  comes  upon  the  story  of 
Dover  and  Salmon  Falls.  But  fuller  knowledge 
breeds  respect  for  Francois  Hertel.  When  eight- 
een years  old  he  was  captured  by  the  Mohawks 
and  put  to  the  torture.  One  of  his  fingers  they 
burned  off  in  the  bowl  of  a  pipe.  The  thumb  of  the 
other  hand  they  cut  off.  In  the  letter  which  he 
wrote  on  birch-bark  to  his  mother  after  this  dread- 
ful experience,  there  is  not  a  word  of  his  sufferings. 
He  simply  sends  her  his  love  and  asks  for  her 
prayers,  signing  himself  by  his  childish  nickname, 
"Your  poor  Fanchon."  As  he  grew  up  he  won 
from  an  admiring  community  the  name  of  "The 
Hero."  He  was  not  only  brave  but  religious. 
From  his  standpoint,  it  was  all  legitimate  war- 
fare. If  he  slew  others,  he  ran  a  thousand  risks 
himself  and  endured  terrible  privations  for  his 
king  and  the  home  he  was  defending.  See  him 
stand  at  the  bridge  over  Wooster  River,  sword 
in  hand,  when  pressed  on  his  retreat  by  an  over- 
whelming force  of  English.     Hertel  holds  the  pass 


The  Soldier— D'Iberville  179 

till  all  his  men  are  over.  He  was  forty-seven  years 
old  at  the  time.  The  three  eldest  of  his  nine  sons 
were  with  him  in  that  little  band  of  twenty-six 
Frenchmen,  and  two  of  his  nephews.  "To  the 
New  England  of  old,"  says  Parkman,  who  can 
honour  a  brave  man  even  though  he  is  a  Catholic: 
"To  the  New  England  of  old,  Frangois  Hertel  was 
the  abhorred  chief  of  Popish  malignants  and  mur- 
dering savages.  The  New  England  of  to-day  will 
be  more  just  to  the  brave  defender  of  his  country 
and  his  faith."  The  same  note  of  appreciation 
is  struck  by  another  modem  representative  of 
New  England,  Miss  AHce  Baker,  whose  book  on 
the  English  Captives  in  Canada  contains  a  eulo- 
gistic notice  of  Francois  Hertel  and  his  third 
son,  Hertel  de  Rouville. 

The  exploits  of  the  Hertel  family  would  easily 
supply  material  for  a  whole  chapter,  but  we  must 
not  pass  over  D'Iberville,  who,  without  doubt, 
is  the  most  versatile,  the  most  distinguished  of 
French-Canadian  soldiers.  If  Bollard's  fight  seems 
to  surpass  any  single  achievement  of  D'Iberville, 
it  must  be  pointed  out  that  Dollard  was  not  in 
the  strict  sense  of  the  term  a  French  Canadian. 
He  was  neither  bom  nor  bred  at  Montreal.  He 
had  passed  only  one  wdnter  there  before  he  went 
forth  on  his  heroic  mission.  D'Iberville,  on  the 
contrary,  was  a  French  Canadian  to  his  finger 
tips — a  scion  of  the  most  remarkable  Canadian 
family  with  which  we  meet  during  the  seven- 
teenth century.  His  father,  Charles  Le  Moyne, 
hke  the  Hertels,  came  from  Normandy,  and  had 
the  fighting  blood  of  the  Vikings.     The  deeds  of 


i8o  The  Soldier — D'lberville 

the  numerous  progeny  who  branched  off  from  this 
stock  are  almost  epic  in  their  profusion  and  dar- 
ing. A  Boston  schoolgirl  once  said  that  she  could 
not  endure  the  history  of  Massachusetts,  it  was 
so  cluttered  up  with  Adamses.  Likewise  the  his- 
tory of  French  Canada  is  cluttered  up  with  Le 
Moynes.  This  line  even  reminds  one  of  that  other 
Norman  family,  the  great  house  of  Hauteville, 
which  in  the  eleventh  century  sent  out  its  twelve 
sons — Drogo,  Humphrey,  William  of  the  Iron 
Arm,  Robert  Guiscard,  Roger,  and  the  rest — to 
conquer  Naples  and  Sicily. 

D'lberville,  the  most  remarkable  of  Charles 
Le  Moyne's  eleven  sons,  had  a  career  of  the  highest 
distinction  on  both  land  and  sea.  His  exploits 
are  by  no  means  confined  to  Canada  and  New 
England.  From  Hudson's  Bay  to  Louisiana  he 
displayed  a  resourcefulness,  a  daring  and  a  genius 
for  command  which  were  unequalled  among  the 
Canadians  of  his  time.  The  first  expedition  in 
which  he  won  distinction  was  a  fihbustering  raid 
upon  the  English  forts  in  Hudson's  Bay.  D'lber- 
ville, then  twenty-five  years  old,  was  one  of  a 
small  party  that  left  Montreal  in  the  early  spring 
of  1686,  went  up  the  Ottawa  and  thence  struck 
north  for  James's  Bay.  The  laurels  of  this  raid, 
which  resulted  in  the  capture  of  three  EngUsh 
forts,  were  shared  by  D'lberville  with  his  two 
brothers,  Sainte-Hel^ne  and  Maricourt,  but  his 
own  part  stands  out  first  in  a  splendid  tale  of 
dash,  endurance,  and  clear-headedness.  Twice  after 
this  he  returned  to  the  same  scene  of  action  in 
command  of  French  ships,  and  furnished  the  Hud- 


r 


.^^gj^-r 


D'Iberville 


The  Soldier— D'Iberville  1 8 1 

son's  Bay  Company  with  the  most  brilUant  dis- 
play of  military  genius  and  naval  skill  which  is  to 
be  found  in  its  long  annals. 

1696  and  1697  were  the  years  of  D' Iberville's 
greatest  triumph  in  northern  waters.  Half-way 
between  the  mouth  of  the  Kennebec  and  the 
mouth  of  the  Penobscot  stood  the  fort  of  Pema- 
quid,  which  the  English  had  taken  care  to  strengthen 
after  its  capture  by  Hertel  in  1690.  In  1696, 
with  the  exception  of  Boston,  it  was  their  chief 
stronghold  on  the  Atlantic.  The  forces  which 
the  French  brought  against  it  were  two  warships 
under  D'Iberville,  and  a  force  of  three  hundred 
Abenakis  under  Saint-Castin.  The  siege  lasted 
a  httle  less  than  twenty-four  hours,  for  so  hot  was 
the  attack  that  Chubb,  the  English  commander, 
quickly  agreed  to  peld  on  a  promise  that  the 
garrison  should  be  spared.  After  D'Iberville  had 
seen  to  the  exact  fulfilment  of  this  condition, 
he  sailed  for  Newfoundland,  where  he  captured 
the  EngUsh  fort  at  St.  John's,  and  then  pro- 
ceeded to  attack  the  remaining  posts,  one  by  one. 
At  the  head  of  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  French- 
men, mostly  Canadians,  he  made  a  winter  cam- 
paign along  the  coast,  burning  settlement  after 
settlement  until  only  the  fortress  of  Bonavista 
remained  in  Enghsh  hands.  This  D'Iberville  would 
undoubtedly  have  captured  like  the  rest,  but  in 
May,  1697,  a  fleet  of  French  vessels  appeared  w^ith 
orders  from  Paris  that  he  should  take  command. 
The  objective  point  of  this  expedition  was  Port 
Nelson  in  Hudson's  Bay,  w^hich  D'Iberville  had 
captured     three     years    before,    but    which     the 


1 82  The  Soldier~D' Iberville 

English  had  regained  while  he  was  seizing 
Pemaquid. 

Nothing  that  D' Iberville  did  before  or  after 
quite  equals  his  conduct  of  this  expedition  to 
Hudson's  Bay  in  1697.  On  coming  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Straits  he  found  that  a  fleet  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  was  just  ahead  of  him.  The  French 
had  five  ships  to  four,  but  owing  to  the  ice  floes  a 
battle  could  not  be  forced  in  the  Straits.  With  his 
own  ship,  the  Pelican,  D' Iberville  managed  to  slip 
past  the  English  fleet  and  enter  the  Bay  alone. 
Having  reached  Port  Nelson  he  formed  his  plan 
of  siege,  and  then  waited  for  his  squadron  to 
appear.  It  was  the  Company's  fleet,  however,  that 
came  up  first.  In  this  predicament  D' Iberville 
had  to  choose  between  giving  up  his  attack  on 
the  fort,  which  would  have  meant  the  failure  of 
the  expedition,  or  fighting  one  ship  against  three. 
Characteristically,  he  chose  the  latter  course,  and 
by  superb  seamanship  sank  the  Hampshire,  and 
captured  the  Hudson's  Bay,  which  was  the  Enghsh 
flagship.     The  third  escaped  only  by  flight. 

But  this  was  by  no  means  the  end  of  the  exploit. 
A  fierce  storm  with  blinding  snow  struck  the 
battered  Pelican,  forced  her  from  her  anchorage 
and  drove  her  into  shoal  water  where  she  was 
pounded  all  night  by  the  storm.  When  daylight 
came,  D' Iberville  persuaded  his  men  that  it  would 
be  better  to  die  in  front  of  Fort  Nelson  than  be 
drowned.  Thereupon  those  who  had  not  been 
wounded  in  the  fight  jumped  into  the  icy  bay 
and  waded  ashore  with  the  water  up  to  their  necks. 
A  good   many  died   from  exposure,  but   the   rest 


The  Soldier— D'Iberville  183 

managed  to  build  fires  of  driftwood  and  live  on 
seaweed  or  steeped  moss,  till  the  rest  of  the 
French  fleet  arrived.  Then  D'Iberville  proceeded 
to  storm  Fort  Nelson,  using  as  much  cleverness 
and  strategy  on  land  as  he  had  done  in  fighting 
the  Pelican  against  three  Enghsh  ships. 

Soon  after  this  the  Peace  of  Ryswick  put  an 
end  to  that  war,  and  in  the  succeeding  interval  of 
peace  D'Iberville  came  forward  with  his  project 
for  the  colonising  of  Louisiana.  The  rest  of  his 
career  we  cannot  follow,  save  to  point  out  that 
the  same  qualities  which  he  had  displayed  at 
Schenectady,  Pemaquid,  Hudson's  Bay,  and  New- 
foundland were  illustrated  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi.  Louisiana  was  more  a  Canadian  than 
a  French  colony.  The  leaders  of  the  enterprise 
were  the  Le  Moynes,  for  Bienville,  D' Iberville's 
brother,  founded  Mobile  and  New  Orleans,*  and 
a  large  number  of  the  most  noted  pioneers  came 
from  Canada.  As  soldier  and  seaman  in  one, 
D'Iberville  finds  new  rivals  in  the  history  of  any 
country. 

Such  was  the  French-Canadian  fighter  of  the 
seventeenth  century — a  man  who  thought  nothing 
of  winter  campaigns  in  high  latitudes,  where  the 

*  At  Mobile,  Alabama,  there  is  a  memorial  to  Bienville  which 
bears  the  following  inscription:  "To  Jean-Baptiste  Le  Mo3me, 
Sieur  de  Bienville,  Native  of  Montreal,  Canada;  Naval  Officer 
of  France;  Founder  of  the  First  Capital,  Mobile.  Bom  1680, 
died  1768.  With  the  genius  to  create  an  Empire,  and  the 
courage  to  mamtain  it  amid  faction,  successful  even  in  defeat, 
he  brought  his  settlement  the  prosperity  of  civilisation,  and 
the  happiness  of  true  Christianity.  He  who  foimds  a  city 
builds  himself  a  live-long  monximent." 


1 84  The  Soldier— D'Iberville 

party  camped  on  the  open  snow  or  waded  to  their 
waists  through  melting  drifts.  Few  though  they 
were  in  number,  the  Canadian  mihtia  and  their 
officers  were  picked  troops,  every  one  of  them 
conscious  of  the  odds  against  him,  but  self-reliant 
and  cool  in  danger.  We  have  it  on  the  authority 
of  WeUington  himself  that  during  the  Peninsular 
War  the  French  captured  more  than  one  strong 
place  in  Spain  without  any  provision  of  bullets, 
save  those  fired  at  them  by  their  enemies,  having 
trusted  to  this  chance  when  they  formed  the 
siege.  This  is  a  good  story,  but  one  could  under- 
take to  match  it  from  the  exploits  of  the  Canadians 
who  followed  Francois  Hertel,  Hertel  de  Rouville, 
Le  Moyne  de  Sainte-Hel^ne,  and  Pierre  Le  Moyne 
D'Iberville. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   COUREUR  DE   BOIS— DU   LHUT 

AT  first  glance  the  coureur  de  hois  has  the  appear- 
ance of  a  roUicking,  dare-devil  creature  whose 
character  conceals  no  psychological  enigmas.  And 
it  is  under  this  guise  that  he  comes  down  to  our 
own  time  in  the  folk-lore  of  French  Canada.  The 
legend  of  La  Chasse  Gallerie,  which  gave  Drum- 
mond  the  subject  of  "Phil-o-rum  Juneau,"  recalls 
a  vagabond  of  the  wilderness,  and  nothing  more. 
As  the  phantom  canoe  flies  through  the  heavens 
on  New- Year's  eve,  its  spectral  occupants  sing  of 
"Le  Canayen  Errant"  and  his  dusky  loves.  The 
hour  has  come  when  toils  of  paddle  and  portage 
are  to  be  forgotten.  The  wanderer  revisits  the 
haunts  of  man,  and  his  first  call  will  not  be  at 
the  door  of  the  curL 

Moreover  there  is  much  documentary  evidence 
in  support  of  this  view.  La  Hontan  was  no 
friend  of  the  Jesuits,  but  he  and  they  have  the 
same  story  to  tell  about  the  coureur  de  hois.  The 
Baron  says  he  was  once  at  Montreal  when  fifty 
or  seventy-five  rovers  returned  to  civilisation, 
and  he  describes  how  they  acted  after  they  had 
sold  their  furs.  It  is  a  picture  which  might  have 
been  drawn  in  the  California  of  '49  or  in  the  Aus- 

185 


1 86        The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut 

tralia  of  '51.  La  Hontan's  description  sets  before 
us  the  ancestors  of  those  who  rushed  from  the 
gold-diggings  to  places  where  they  could  play  at 
tenpins  with  bottles  of  champagne.  The  coureur 
seems  to  have  had  a  finer  taste  for  dress,  but  other- 
wise the  only  difference  one  can  perceive  is  an 
exception  in  favour  of  the  seventeenth-century 
husband.  "Such  of  'em  as  are  married,"  says 
the  EngUsh  edition  of  1703,  "have  the  wisdom 
to  retire  to  their  own  Houses;  but  the  Batchelors 
act  just  as  our  East-India  Men  and  Pirates  are 
wont  to  do;  for  they  Lavish,  Eat,  Drink,  and 
Play  all  away  as  long  as  the  Goods  hold  out;  and 
when  these  are  gone,  they  e'en  sell  their  Embroidery, 
their  Lace,  and  their  Cloaths.  This  done,  they 
are  forc'd  to  go  upon  a  new  Voyage  for  Subsist- 
ence." 

La  Hontan,  a  mercurial  son  of  the  Midi,  does 
not  write  thus  in  order  to  condemn.  At  other 
stages  of  his  narrative  he  praises  the  v^alour  of 
the  coureur,  and  accepts  as  truthful  his  reports 
of  life  in  the  forest.  But  when  the  Jesuit  takes 
up  his  pen  to  describe  the  actions  of  this  repro- 
bate, it  is  in  a  mood  of  stern  censure.  Par- 
ticularly at  the  time  of  Frontenac  does  the  tone 
of  the  Fathers  become  charged  with  grief  and 
upbraiding.  From  the  missionary's  standpoint  the 
fCoureur  was  bad  enough  even  when  the  govern- 
ment opposed  him;  but,  whether  rightly  or 
wrongly,  it  was  said  that  Frontenac  and  these 
vagabonds  were  alUed.  Hence  the  Jesuits  felt 
their  position  in  the  Far  West  threatened  by  a 
compact  between  two  forces,  both  inimical  to  them. 


The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut        187 

and  either  of  which  alone  might  have  caused 
them  concern.  The  unceasing  complaints  are  that 
no  sooner  has  the  missionary  begun  to  lead  the 
savage  into  the  right  path  than  an  unscrupulous 
French  trader  appears  on  the  scene,  with  his  brandy 
bottle  and  his  evil  example.  "What  hope  can  we 
have,"  exclaim  the  Jesuits,  "of  bringing  the 
Indians  to  Christ,  when  all  the  sinners  of  the 
colony  are  permitted  to  come  here  and  give  Chris- 
tianity the  he  by  an  open  exhibition  of  bad  morals!" 
One  finds  much  sameness  in  the  charges  which 
are  brought  against  the  coureur  de  hois  by  his 
enemies.  When  the  advanced  races  first  come 
into  contact  with  their  retarded  brethren,  "the 
white  man's  burden"  is  usually  a  bag  of  bullion 
or  a  pack  of  beaver  skins.  Theft,  lying,  and 
cruelty  are  the  stepping  stones  by  which  too  often 
the  adventurous  European  has  advanced  to  the 
control  of  distant  continents.  But  in  the  case 
of  the  coureur  de  bois,  it  is  plain  that  the  worst 
sins  were  not  incurred.  Of  anything  like  whole- 
sale terrorism  we  find  no  trace.  The  French  who 
frequented  Michillimackinac  displayed  polyga- 
mous aptitudes,  and  were  wiUing  to  promote 
trade  by  the  sale  of  fire-water.  But  judging  from 
negative  evidence,  they  avoided  the  lowest  forms 
of  brutality  and  extortion.  The  worst  that  has 
ever  been  said  against  them  occurs  in  a  letter 
from  Carheil,  Jesuit  missionary  at  Mackinac,  to 
CaUieres,  the  Governor  who  succeeded  Frontenac. 
This  long  indictment  (which  Mr.  Thwaites  has 
pubUshed  in  the  sixty-fifth  volume  of  the  Jesuit 
Relations)   contains   a   host   of  unpleasant   details. 


1 88         The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut 

but  does  not  point  to  conditions  comparable  \\ith 
those  created  by  the  Spaniards  in  Mexico  and 
Peru.  Carheil  is  arguing  against  the  hcense  to 
sell  brandy,  and  the  substance  of  his  whole  repre- 
sentation will  be  found  in  the  following  words: 
**If  that  license  be  not  revoked  by  orders  to  the 
contrary,  we  need  no  longer  remain  in  any  of  our 
missions  here,  to  waste  the  remainder  of  our  lives 
and  all  our  efforts  in  purely  useless  labour,  under 
the  dominion  of  continual  drunkenness  and  of 
universal  immorality — which  are  no  less  permitted 
to  the  traders  in  brandy  than  is  the  trade  itself, 
of  which  they  are  both  the  accompaniment  and 
the  sequel." 

We  may  conclude,  then,  from  the  statements 
of  La  Hontan,  Carheil,  and  others,  that  the  coureur 
de  bois  stood  outside  the  pale  of  respectable  society. 
And  the  inhabitants  of  the  parishes  were  so  respect- 
able! Remembering  the  austere  piety  of  the  first 
settlers,  it  is  not  hard  to  understand  why  these 
tales  which  came  back  from  the  forest  should 
have  given  cause  for  scandal.  But  unfortunately 
there  is  a  spice  to  evil  which  makes  it  linger  in 
the  memory  of  even  the  most  circumspect.  Hence 
the  coureur,  though  profane  and  disreputable,  was 
interesting.  His  recklessness  kindled  a  spark  of 
admiration.  The  turmoil  of  his  adventures  con- 
trasted sharply  with  the  tameness  of  the  life  which 
was  led  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  church  at  Beau- 
pre.  He  might  be  a  very  bad  fellow,  but  the 
habitant  did  not  forget  him.  The  Chasse  Gallerie, 
indeed,  shows  that  his  memory  was  cherished 
with  a  certain  lingering  fondness. 


\ 

The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut        189 

Somewhat  different  from  the  attitude  of  the 
missionary  or  the  habitant  must  be  that  of  the 
modern  historian.  Carheil  was  shocked  by  the 
wickedness  of  the  French  at  Mackinac,  but  the 
historian  is  very  famihar  with  analogous  varieties 
of  sinning,  and  therefore  asks  whether  the  coureur 
was  better  or  worse  than  men  of  other  nationah- 
ties,  acting  under  hke  circumstances.  As  was 
just  indicated  he  seems  much  less  cruel  than  the 
Spaniard,  and  for  one  I  should  hold  him  less  cul- 
pable than  the  Dutch  pioneers  of  the  Far  East. 
But  leaving  aside  the  question  of  comparative 
iniquity,  it  is  not  judicious  to  condemn  without 
distinction  the  members  of  a  whole  class.  Further- 
more the  coureur  is  an  historical  phenomenon  of 
high  importance.  His  deeds  and  ambitions  are 
so  characteristic  that,  if  for  no  other  purpose, 
they  are  valuable  as  throwing  reflex  light  upon 
the  life  of  the  vast  majority  who  remained  fixed 
in  their  homes  on  the  lower  reaches  of  the  great 
stream. 

In  considering  the  coureur  de  hois  as  a  social 
type,  we  are  brought  face  to  face  with  the  fur 
trade.  At  the  time  Quebec  was  founded,  French 
capitalists  did  not  embark  their  money  in  schemes 
for  the  development  of  Canadian  agriculture.  The 
soil  of  Virginia  might  be  worth  tilling  for  its  tobacco 
crop,  but  no  one  could  expect  large  dividends 
from  the  stump  fields  of  the  Laurentian  valley, 
still  less  from  the  rocks  of  Tadoussac.  The  one 
Canadian  product  that  yielded  a  large  profit  was 
the  beaver  skin,  and  but  for  the  beaver  Cham- 
plain   would   have   found   it   impossible   to   secure 


190  The  Coureur  de  Bois  Du  Lhut 

the  funds  he  needed  in  prosecuting  his  work  of 
exploration.  Then,  as  now,  there  were  specula- 
tors who  would  take  long  risks  on  the  chance  of 
making  an  exceptional  profit.  Experience  soon 
proved  that  beaver  skins,  bought  from  the  sav- 
ages with  gimcracks,  axe-heads,  and  fire-water, 
yielded  enormous  returns — if  the  cargo  reached 
France  in  safety.  The  period  in  question  covers 
almost  the  whole  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
Towards  the  close  of  Frontenac's  regime  the  mar- 
ket became  glutted  with  this  commodity,  and 
merchants  resorted  to  the  expedient  of  destroy- 
ing a  part  in  order  that  the  price  of  the  rest  might 
be  maintained.  But  in  the  days  when  coureurs 
de  bois  were  most  active,  profits  ruled  high. 
Throughout  the  colony  the  beaver  skin  was  the 
chief  unit  of  value,  being  freely  exchanged  in  lieu 
of  bullion.  That  the  European  investor  had  rea- 
son to  expect  a  good  return  may  be  gathered 
from  the  dividends  which  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany paid  in  its  early  days.  When  two  beaver 
skins,  bought  at  Port  Nelson  for  a  comb  and  look- 
ing-glass, could  be  sold  at  Garraway's  for  fifty- 
five  shillings  each,  it  is  no  wonder  the  trade  throve. 
In  1688  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  paid  a  divi- 
dend of  fifty  per  cent;  in  1689,  of  twenty-five  per 
cent;    and  in  1690,  of  seventy-five  per  cent. 

The  fur  trade,  of  course,  had  its  vicissitudes, 
and  the  biography  of  La  Salle  shows  what  disap- 
pointments it  could  often  bring  the  adventurer 
who  sought  to  traffic  at  first  hand  with  the  Indians 
of  the  pays  d'en  haul.  On  the  other  hand,  such  a 
cargo  as  Groseilliers  brought  back  in  1660  was  enough 


The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut        191 

to  excite  the  imagination  of  all  New  France. 
But  the  coureur  de  bois  did  not  enter  the  wilder- 
ness solely  in  the  hope  of  gain.  Large  wages  can 
be  had  by  those  who  will  work  in  diving  bells  and 
dynamite  factories;  yet  society  is  seldom  disor- 
ganised by  a  rush  of  the  labouring  class  to  these 
occupations.  In  abandoning  the  settlements  for 
the  wilderness,  the  Canadian  went  on  a  double 
quest.  If  asked,  he  might  have  said  that  it  was 
the  high  pay,  or  the  chances  of  great  profit,  which 
attracted  him.  But  in  reality  the  excitement 
of  the  game  counted  for  quite  as  much  as  the  mate- 
rial reward.  The  wages  of  virtue,  says  the  poet, 
is  the  opportunity  of  action. 

*'  She  desires  no  isles  of  the  blest,  no  qtiiet  seats  of  the  just, 
To  rest  in  a  golden  grove,  or  to  bask  in  a  sximmer  sky; 
Give  her  the  wages  of  going  on,  and  not  to  die." 

The  coureur  de  hois  was  neither  virtuous  nor 
poetical,  but  we  may  well  beUeve  that  the  best 
pay  he  got  was  the  chance  to  test  his  powers  in 
wrestling  with  the  obstacles  he  encountered.  Had 
there  been  restraint,  the  joy  would  have  disap- 
peared. But  to  escape  from  the  stifhng  restric- 
tions of  state  control,  to  indulge  in  the  liberty  and 
license  of  the  forest — there  lay  the  temptation. 
The  toil  and  the  dangers  were  not  to  be  concealed, 
yet  elsewhere  life  held  out  no  such  promise  of 
exciting  pleasures. 

The  first  risk  which  the  coureur  ran  was  that 
of  being  punished  by  the  government.  In  a  com- 
munity where  wealth  could  be  gained  in  no  other 
way  than  through  the  fur  frade,  every  one  wished 


192         The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut 

to  traffic  with  the  Indians.  A  large  part  of  the 
private  trading  thus  carried  on  was  an  infringe- 
ment of  the  monopoly,  and  therefore  a  breach 
of  law  The  crown  cannot  be  said  to  have  followed 
a  consistent  policy  in  dealing  with  offenders,  but 
it  always  placed  restrictions  of  some  kind  on  bar- 
ter for  peltries.  These  ranged  from  a  complete 
prohibition  of  private  trading  to  the  grant  of  a 
license  at  the  Governor's  discretion.  In  view  of 
the  fact  that  the  king  had  a  long  arm,  the  defiance 
of  his  commands  involved  grave  danger.  Still, 
the  coureur  de  bois  was  not  without  plausible  argu- 
ments. When  told  that  he  must  not  hunt  in 
the  forest  at  the  distance  of  more  than  a  league 
from  his  house,  he  asked  how  the  king  meant  to 
extend  his  authority  over  the  continent  if  no  one 
explored  it.  And  obviously  exploration  could  not 
go  forward  without  the  help  of  trade.  Whoever 
entered  the  land  of  the  Indians  must  carry  presents, 
and  unless  permission  were  given  to  trade,  how 
could  the  costs  of  the  expedition  be  met?  A 
second  argument  was  that  far  beyond  Lake  Supe- 
rior were  tribes  who  never  brought  their  furs  to 
the  market  at  Montreal.  If  this  source  of  wealth 
could  be  tapped,  so  much  the  better  for  the  colony; 
but  no  one  would  risk  his  life  among  the  Sioux, 
if  the  government  told  him  he  must  refrain  from 
buying  their  beaver  skins. 

Such  were  some  of  the  points  which  the  coureur 
de  bois  raised  with  the  civil  authorities.  Likewise 
when  the  Church  hurled  anathemas  at  him  for 
selling  fire-water,  he  was  ready  with  an  answer. 
"If    you    prevent    me    from    taking    good    brandy 


The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut        193 

to  Mackinac,  is  it  that  you  want  the  Indians  to 
buy  bad  rum  from  the  EngHsh  and  the  Dutch?" 
On  one  occasion  when  Laval  had  succeeded  in 
securing  a  prohibition  of  the  brandy  trade,  the  re- 
port spread  that  a  party  of  Iroquois,  bringing  a  large 
convoy  of  furs  to  Montreal,  had  swerved  from  their 
course.  Hearing  of  the  new  law  at  a  distance  of  thirty 
leagues,  they  turned  aside  and  carried  the  goods  to 
Albany.  The  coureur' s  most  ingenious  argument  re- 
lated to  the  question  of  faith.  Turning  on  the  mission- 
ary, he  said:  "If  you  make  the  savages  go  south  for 
rum,  by  cutting  off  their  supply  of  brandy,  you  will 
throw  them  into  the  arms  of  the  Calvinists.  There- 
fore it  is  your  fault  if  they  become  heretics." 

Whatever  the  threats  of  the  Governor  and 
Intendant,  they  never  could  prevent  an  important 
part  of  the  population  from  taking  to  the  woods. 
The  Intendant  Duchesneau,  who  disliked  the  cou- 
reur s  intensely,  said  in  1680  that  they  numbered 
eight  hundred,  or  forty  per  cent  of  the  adult  males. 
This  doubtless  is  an  exaggeration.  At  the  same 
time  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  one  who  could 
endure  the  hardships  of  daily  life  in  the  wilder- 
ness was,  physically  speaking,  a  picked  man.  If 
he  remained  at  home  in  the  parish  he  would  found 
a  family,  and  bring  up  valiant  sons  to  resist  the 
Iroquois  and  the  Enghsh.  Once  let  him  set  up 
his  tepee  in  the  West,  and  he  was  a  lost  body  as 
weU  as  a  lost  soul.  Both  Church  and  State  were 
much  more  concerned  that  there  should  be  a 
progeny  of  vahant  habitants  on  the  banks  of  the 
Richelieu,  than  that  the  valley  of  the  Wisconsin 
should  be  peopled  with  mMs. 


194         The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut 

But  the  West,  still  more  magnetic  than  the 
North,  would  not  be  gainsaid.  How  far  the 
glories  of  nature  appealed  to  the  coureur  we  can 
decide  only  after  we  have  made  up  our  minds 
regarding  the  way  in  which  nature  touches  the 
human  soul.  The  peasant  who  dwells  under  the 
shadow  of  Mont  Blanc  would  probably  speak  in 
very  commonplace  language  about  the  effect  which 
scenery  produced  upon  him.  Yet  Renan  says 
that  in  the  school  where  he  studied  at  Paris,  a 
Savoyard  killed  himself  from  homesickness.  When 
these  swearing,  hard-drinking  Frenchmen  of  the 
seventeenth  century  mounted  the  Ottawa  through 
the  primeval  forest,  they  gave  little  thought 
to  subjective  emotions  or  aesthetic  criticism. 
Nevertheless  they  loved  the  wilderness,  and  paid 
it  the  sincere  compliment  of  living  there  till  their 
health  gave  out.  Parkman,  who  lavished  upon 
the  woods  the  affection  of  an  intense  nature,  is 
led  to  stray  from  his  treatment  of  this  subject 
into  one  of  the  most  lyrical  passages  he  ever  wrote 
— laying  bare  the  heart  of  the  ancient  wood  as 
its  beauty  moved  the  recesses  of  his  being.  Yet 
his  conclusion  is  that  the  coureur  de  hois  * '  liked 
the  woods  because  they  emancipated  him  from 
restraint."  Here  Parkman  is  thinking  of  the  lower 
stratum,  of  the  man  whom  he  calls  "  half-savage." 
Doubtless  a  large  majority  of  the  class  belonged 
to  this  type,  but  among  the  leaders  can  be  found 
men  who  were  not  half-savage,  and  may  have 
liked  the  forest  for  something  better  than  ' '  the 
lounging  ease  of  the  camp-fire  and  the  Ucense  of 
Indiaji  villages." 


'The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut        195 

When  speaking  of  the  woodsman  it  is  proper 
to  mention  his  prey,  the  inteUigent  and  worthy- 
beaver.  This  animal  has  a  very  distinct  place 
in  the  literature  of  New  France.  Though  slaugh- 
tered without  remorse,  its  virtues  were  appre- 
ciated almost  to  the  point  of  canonisation.  No 
account  of  the  wilderness  was  thought  complete 
if  it  failed  to  contain  some  fresh  and  authentic 
anecdote  of  the  beaver's  intelligence.  Its  skill, 
its  forethought,  its  architectural  talents,  are  per- 
ennial themes  of  the  missionary  and  the  explorer. 
Paul  Le  Jeune  cannot  get  away  from  the  subject. 
In  Relation  after  Relation  he  returns  to  it  with 
enthusiasm.  For  example:  "These  dams  are 
about  nineteen  feet  broad,  and  in  length  more  or 
less,  according  to  the  width  of  the  river  or  brook, 
Sieur  Olivier  informs  me  that  he  crossed  over  one 
of  these  dams  which  was  more  than  two  hundred 
steps  long.  Sieur  Nicolet  has  seen  another  of 
almost  a  quarter  of  a  league,  so  strong  and  so 
well  built  that  he  was  filled  with  astonishment. 
The  waters  that  are  checked  by  this  dam  become 
deep  and  form,  as  it  were,  a  beautiful  pond  in 
which  the  beaver  goes  to  swim.  I  am  told  even 
this,  that  when  soil  is  lacking  in  the  place  where 
they  do  this  great  work,  they  go  and  get  it  else- 
where, bringing  it  upon  their  backs.  I  do  not 
know  what  to  believe  of  this  except  that  mirabilis 
Deus  in  omnibus  operibus  suis."  La  Hontan,  fifty 
years  later,  is  equally  impressed  by  the  sagacity 
of  the  beaver,  which  even  leads  him  to  make  invid- 
ious comparisons.  **  The  savages  of  Canada,  reflect- 
ing on  the  excellent  qualities  of  the  beavers,  are 


I  96         The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut 

wont  to  say,  '  that  they  cannot  beUeve  their  souls 
die  with  their  bocjes.'  They  add  that  if  they 
were  permitted  to  reason  about  things  invisible, 
and  which  fall  not  under  their  senses,  they  durst 
mcdntain  that  they  are  immortal  like  ours.  But 
not  to  insist  on  this  chimerical  fancy,  it  must  be 
allowed  that  there  are  an  infinite  number  of  men 
upon  the  earth  (without  mentioning  the  Tartars, 
the  peasants  of  Muscovy,  of  Norway,  and  a  hun- 
dred other  sorts  of  people)  who  have  not  the  hun- 
dredth part  of  the  understanding  which  these 
animals  have."  This  testimony  might  be  multi- 
plied ad  infinitum,  but  a  little  of  it  will  explain 
why  the  Canadian  of  to-day  feels  complacent  in 
comparing  the  habits  of  the  beaver  with  those 
of  the  Uon  and  the  eagle. 

In  casting  about  for  representative  coureur s 
de  bois,  one  is  immediately  forced  to  consider 
where  the  line  should  be  drawn  between  them  and 
explorers.  Nor  is  the  distinction  unimportant. 
The  one  name  dignifies,  the  other  disparages.  We 
always  think  of  La  Salle  as  an  explorer,  yet  he 
traded.  Du  Lhut  comes  down  to  us  as  a  coureur 
de  bois,  yet  he  holds  a  distinguished  place  in  the 
history  of  exploration.  If  it  be  said  that  La  Salle 
thought  much  more  about  discoveries  than  about 
trade,  the  statement  may  be  quite  true.  None 
the  less,  he  strove  hard  for  the  success  of  those 
commercial  ventures  upon  which  he  had  built 
such  large  hopes.  Du  Lhut  we  group  with  the 
coureurs,  because,  whether  rightly  or  wrongly,  we 
believe  his  explorations  to  have  been  undertaken, 
in  the  main,  for  the  sake  of  enlarging  his  fortune. 


The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut        197 

But  this  may  be  jumping  at  conclusions.  There 
is  a  long  and  earnest  letter  in  which  Du  Lhut 
assures  Seignelay  that  he  journeyed  to  the  Sioux 
country  in  fulfilment  of  a  long  cherished  and  dis- 
interested ambition.  A  use  of  language  which 
places  La  Salle  and  Du  Lhut  in  different  classes 
may  to  some  appear  quite  indefensible.  Every 
explorer  was  compelled  to  win  over  the  savages 
with  gifts  which  cost  good  money,  and  could  best 
be  paid  for  by  a  cargo  of  furs.  Conversely,  none 
of  the  traders  could  stray  far  from  the  St.  Law- 
rence or  the  Great  Lakes  without  enlarging  the 
range  of  geographical  knowledge. 

The  coureurs  de  bois  do  not  become  notably 
numerous  until  the  second  half  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  Champlain  sent  several  of  his  followers 
into  the  woods  to  qualify  as  interpreters,  and 
pursue  the  waterways  in  search  of  trade  routes. 
These  men  are,  in  a  certain  sense,  coureurs  de  bois, 
Nicolet  being  a  good  representative  of  the  class, 
and  Vignau  a  poor  one.  But  it  was  not  until 
1650,  or  after,  that  the  number  of  volunteer  rovers 
began  to  cause  the  government  grave  concern. 
When  adventurers  like  Groseilliers  and  Radisson 
go  off  in  the  forest  frankly  aiming  at  great  profits 
and  palpably  gaining  them,  the  parishes  begin 
to  take  notice  of  what  can  be  done  by  independ- 
ent, though  illegal,  effort.  After  a  few  exam- 
ples of  spectacular  success,  the  youth  of  the  colony 
become  subjected  to  a  temptation  which  grows 
stronger  and  stronger  as  the  severe  standards 
of  the  first  settlers  are  relaxed.  It  would  be  inter- 
esting to  know  how  many  of  those  who  set  out 


198        The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut 

to  found  Villemarie  yielded  to  the  lure  of  the  forest. 
And  if  it  could  be  proved  that  few  of  Maison- 
neuve's  band  joined  the  coureurs  de  bois,  we  might 
still  expect  to  find  many  of  their  sons  at  Detroit, 
Ste.  Marie,  and  Mackinac.  How  the  coureur 
dressed,  what  he  ate,  what  objects  he  used  in 
barter  with  the  Indians — all  these  are  matters 
about  which  there  exists  much  categorical  infor- 
mation. But  the  quickest  way  to  gain  a  proper 
idea  of  his  character  is  to  watch  him  in  action. 
In  studying  the  lives  of  individual  bushrangers, 
it  is  true  that  we  are  taking  the  leaders — the  men 
of  force  and  talent  who  reached  eminence  by  the 
possession  of  exceptional  gifts  or  energy.  Of  these, 
in  several  cases,  records  remain.  The  common, 
wayfaring  woodsmen  did  not  reach  the  level  of 
Radisson  or  Groseilhers,  of  Du  Lhut  or  Nicolas 
Perrot.  Among  them,  as  elsewhere,  good  mate- 
rial is  found  in  baffling  intermixture  with  what 
is  base.  The  fact  remains  that  the  biography 
of  the  more  famous  coureurs  de  hois,  while  por- 
traying a  type  which  is  higher  than  the  average, 
gives  us  our  best  means  of  understanding  what 
manner  of  life  was  led  by  the  Frenchmen  of  the 
forest. 

For  some  reasons  one  is  tempted  to  see  in  Radis- 
son the  typical  bushranger.  Even  if  we  believe 
only  half  he  says,  his  writings  furnish  material 
for  a  tale  of  breathless  adventure.  And  apart 
from  the  interest  awakened  by  his  personaUty 
and  exploits,  he  had  a  leading  share  in  one  great 
enterprise.  What  without  his  talents  and  ras- 
calities   would    have    been    the    early    annals    of 


The  Coureur  dc  Bois — Du  Lhut        199 

the  Hudson's  Bay  Company?  Taken  separately, 
he  and  Groseilliers  are  sufficiently  rare  specimens 
of  the  genus  homo;  considered  as  a  pair  they 
cannot  be  matched  in  all  the  chronicles  of  the 
forest.  Here,  the  fatal  objection  to  attempting 
a  portrait  of  Radisson  or  Groseilliers  is  that  between 
New  France,  New  England,  Old  France,  and  Old 
England,  their  exploits  are  too  kaleidoscopic  for 
the  limits  prescribed.  On  this  account  neither 
of  them  is  permitted  to  figure  in  the  title  of  the 
present  chapter.  But  leaving  aside  all  thought 
of  careful  portraiture,  it  may  still  be  possible  to 
present  the  main  facts  of  their  lives  in  a  hasty 
sketch. 

Radisson  and  Groseilliers  were  united  by  ties 
of  comradeship  which  held  firm  through  nearly 
forty  years,  and  survived  the  most  startling  turns 
of  fortune.  Both  were  born  in  France  but  came 
to  Canada  at  an  early  age.  Groseilliers,  the  senior 
by  more  than  ten  years,  took  his  origin  from  either 
Brie  or  Touraine.  The  birthplace  of  Radisson 
was  St.  Malo.  In  Canada  their  families  lived  at 
Three  Rivers,  they  themselves  passing  most  of 
the  time  on  expeditions  to  distant  parts.  Equally 
endowed  with  energy  and  imagination,  they 
longed  to  win  fortune  amid  the  hardships  and 
adventures  of  the  West.  It  was  Groseilliers  who 
led  the  way.  Between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and 
twenty-six  he  was  a  donntf,  or  servant,  of  the  Jes- 
uits. Charged  with  duties  that  led  him  to  make 
constant  journeys  between  Quebec  and  Ste.  Marie, 
he  learned  Huron  and  Algonquin  almost  in  his 
boyhood.    After   a   decade   of   this   apprenticeship 


200        The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut 

he  left  the  Fathers,  and  began  trading  for  himself. 
The  date  was  1646,  twelve  years  after  Nicolet 
had  made  his  famous  journey  past  Lake  Michi- 
gan to  the  country  of  the  Wisconsins.  Since 
1634  the  French,  though  often  at  Lake  Huron, 
had  never  gone  beyond  the  shores  of  Lake  Supe- 
rior. Groseilliers  is  among  the  earliest  of  those 
who  opened  the  Far  West  to  European  commerce. 
Radisson    does    not    appear    on    the    scene    till 

165 1.  This  was  the  year  in  which  Groseilliers 
lost  his  first  wife,  Helen,  the  daughter  of  Abraham 
Martin   and   the   goddaughter   of   Champlain.      In 

1652,  Radisson's  half-sister.  Marguerite,  lost  her 
husband,  Jean  Veron  de  Grandmenil.  Before  the 
close  of  1653  widow  and  widower  decided  that 
they  would  console  each  other,  and  thus  the 
two  men  became  brothers-in-law.  But  Radisson 
throughout  his  writings  calls  Groseilliers  "niy 
brother,"  and  they  stood  by  each  other  in  the 
spirit  of  the  most  perfect  kinship.  However  they 
might  treat  the  rest  of  the  world,  it  is  clear  that 
through  sun  and  storm  they  were  the  truest  friends. 

Unfortunately,  when  the  widow  Veron  put 
off  her  weeds,  Radisson  was  unable  to  attend 
the  wedding.  With  a  daring  which  in  youth 
amounted  to  rashness,  he  had  gone  hunting  when 
the  Iroquois  were  known  to  be  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Three  Rivers.  The  result  was  his  cap- 
ture by  the  Mohawks,  who  spared  his  life  and 
adopted  him  into  their  tribe.  Dissatisfied  with 
the  joys  of  the  wigwam,  Radisson  after  a  few 
months  of  captivity  plotted  to  escape  in  the 
company  of   an   Algonquin.     Their   first    step   was 


The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut         201 

to  kill  three  Mohawks;  their  second,  to  hasten 
towards  the  St.  Lawrence  as  fast  as  they  could 
travel.  In  their  flight  they  had  reached  Lake 
St.  Peter,  and  were  almost  out  of  danger,  when 
they  fell  into  another  ambush  of  the  Iroquois. 
The  Algonquin  was  at  once  despatched,  while 
Radisson  again  found  himself  a  prisoner,  under 
circumstances  which  required  a  good  deal  of 
explanation.  Taken  back  to  the  Mohawks,  he 
was  tortured  by  having  several  of  his  finger  nails 
pulled  out.  Then,  after  a  course  of  still  other 
cruelties,  his  life  was  spared  at  the  intercession  of 
his  adoptive  parents.  Altogether  he  remained 
among  the  Mohawks  for  over  a  year.  In  the  lat- 
ter part  of  1653  he  escaped  to  the  Dutch  at  Orange, 
and  by  their  aid  was  enabled  to  reach  France,  via 
Amsterdam.  From  La  Rochelle  he  sailed  for  Que- 
bec by  a  ship  which  entered  the  St.  Lawrence 
at  the  opening  of  navigation.  Before  the  close 
of  May  he  was  back  among  his  people  after  an 
absence  of  nearly  two  years. 

It  used  to  be  thought  that  Groseilliers  and 
Radisson  joined  a  party  of  Ottawas  in  August, 
1654,  and  travelled  in  the  West  until  1656.  The 
Jesuit  Relations,  without  mentioning  names,  state 
that  two  Frenchmen  visited  the  pays  d'en  haut 
in  this  way  and  at  this  time.  For  several  reasons 
it  seemed  natural  to  identify  the  unknown  pair 
with  Groseilliers  and  Radisson.  Thus,  in  1882, 
when  Suite  wrote  his  Histoire  des  Frarifais-Cana- 
dienSj  he  believed  that  they  were  the  men  in  ques- 
tion. Since  then,  however,  he  has  changed  his 
opinion,  as  may  be  seen  from  a  paper  delivered 


1 

202        The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut 

before  the  Royal  Society  of  Canada  in  1903.  The 
strongest  proof  that  these  explorers  were  not 
Groseilliers  and  Radisson  is  to  be  found  in  the 
complete  absence  of  any  reference  in  Radisson's 
writings  to  such  an  expedition.  He  was  not  one 
to  conceal  his  great  deeds,  and  this  would  have 
been  a  fine  occasion  for  parading  them.  The 
unknown  travellers  who  set  out  in  1654  returned 
in  1656,  accompanied  by  two  hundred  and  fifty 
Indians,  and  bringing  fifty  canoes  laden  with 
furs.  They  also  brought  back  a  report  of  the 
Winnebagoes,  the  Illinois,  the  Sioux,  and  the 
Crees.  What  pleased  the  Fathers  most,  they  had 
baptised  over  three  hundred  infants,  and  taught 
the  beauties  of  the  Christian  faith  to  tribes  dwell- 
ing in  the  Far  West,  beyond  the  Great  Lakes. 

Quite  apart  from  the  marked  inactivity  of 
Groseilliers  and  Radisson  in  spreading  the  Gospel, 
negative  evidence  is  strongly  against  their  part 
in  this  expedition.  But  how  they  were  occupied 
during  the  interval  is  not  known.  In  1657  Radis- 
son accompanied  the  two  Jesuits,  Ragueneau  and 
Peron,  on  their  memorable  mission  to  the  Onon- 
dagas,  and  was  conspicuous  in  the  exciting  escape 
of  the  French  from  the  Iroquois  country  through 
the  ruse  of  the  festin  a  manger  tout.  Arrived  at 
Three  Rivers  in  the  spring  of  1658,  Radisson 
again  met  Groseilliers,  who  had  returned  the 
season  before  from  a  trip  to  Lake  Huron.  No 
sooner  were  they  together  than  Groseilliers  pro- 
posed something  more  ambitious  than  either  of 
them  had  yet  attempted.  In  short,  his  plan  was 
that    they    should    enter    the    wilderness    on    the 


The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut       203 

farther  side  of  Lake  Michigan  or  Lake  Superior, 
and  develop  trade  with  tribes  who  never  descended 
to  Montreal.  On  hearing  a  plan  so  attractive, 
Radisson  was  tormented  by  a  desire  to  feel  him- 
self once  more  in  the  bottom  of  a  canoe.  Their 
decision  taken,  the  brothers  lost  little  time  over 
preparations,  and  by  the  middle  of  June  they 
set  out  with  the  resolve  not  to  return  until  they 
had  made  new  discoveries. 

Incidents  happened  at  the  very  outset.  The 
band  of  seventy  French  and  Indians,  which  Radis- 
son and  Groseilliers  joined  at  Montreal,  soon  fell 
into  an  ambush  of  the  Iroquois  and  was  broken 
up,  with  a  loss  of  thirteen  killed  or  captured. 
Thereupon  most  of  the  party  returned,  but  the 
two  brothers,  undismayed,  kept  up  the  St.  Law- 
rence to  Lake  Ontario,  and  thence  by  an  overland 
route  reached  Lake  Huron.  Exactly  where  they 
went  during  the  next  eighteen  months,  it  is  not 
easy  to  make  out.  Radisson  speaks  of  meeting 
Crees,  and  hearing  from  them  about  Hudson's 
Bay.  There  is  also  a  strong  probabiUty  that 
he  -and  Groseilliers  crossed  the  headwaters  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  traversed  a  large  part  of  the  Sioux 
country.  The  Relation  for  1660  contains  this  pas- 
sage: "During  the  winter  season  our  two  French- 
men made  divers  excursions  to  the  surrounding 
tribes.  iVmong  other  things,  they  saw,  six  days' 
journey  beyond  Lake  Superior  towards  the  south- 
west, a  tribe  composed  of  the  remnants  of  the 
Hurons  of  the  Tobacco  Nation,  who  have  been 
compelled  by  the  Iroquois  to  forsake  their  native 
land,  and  bury  themselves  so  deep  in  the  forest 


204        The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut 

that  they  cannot  be  found  by  their  enemies.  These 
poor  people — fleeing  and  pushing  their  way  over 
mountains  and  rocks,  through  these  vast  unknown 
forests — fortunately  encountered  a  beautiful  river, 
large,  deep,  wide,  and  worthy  of  comparison, 
they  say,  with  our  great  river  St.  Lawrence.  On 
its  banks  they  found  the  great  nation  of  the  Ali- 
miwec  [lUinois]  who  gave  them  a  very  kind 
reception.  .  .  .  Let  us  return  to  our  Frenchmen. 
They  visited  the  forty  villages  of  which  the  Sioux 
nation  is  composed,  in  five  of  which  there  are 
reckoned  as  many  as  five  thousand  men.  But 
we  must  take  leave  of  these  people  without  much 
ceremony,  and  enter  the  territories  of  another 
nation  which  is  warUke,  and  which  with  its  bows 
and  arrows  has  rendered  itself  as  redoubtable 
among  the  upper  Algonquins,  as  the  Iroquois 
among  the  lower."  The  Relation  then  proceeds  to 
describe  the  customs  of  the  Assiniboines,  plainly 
basing  its  account  upon  what  Radisson  and  Gro- 
seilliers  have  reported. 

The  largest  question  which  arises  from  this 
passage  is  whether  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  dis- 
covered the  Mississippi  in  1659,  fourteen  years 
before  it  was  reached  by  Joliet  and  Marquette. 
That  in  making  their  way  to  the  Sioux  country 
they  crossed  its  headwaters,  is  a  reasonable  con- 
jecture. But  to  call  them  in  any  proper  sense 
the  discoverers  of  the  Mississippi  seems  inadmis- 
sible. Though  fugitives  of  the  Tobacco  Nation 
told  them  of  a  great  stream,  there  is  no  evidence 
to  show  that  they  identified  this  with  any  of  the 
rivers    which    they    crossed    in    journeying    south- 


The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut        205 

west  from  Lake  Superior.  The  problem  of  the 
Mississippi  as  a  vast  continental  artery  they  did 
not  grapple  with,  and  if  they  stumbled  upon  one 
of  its  upper  branches,  the  fact  did  not  impress 
them.  The  most  sagacious  observation  on  this 
subject  which  I  have  yet  seen  comes  from  Father 
J.  Tailhan  —  the  Jesuit  who  in  1864  published, 
for  the  hrst  time,  Nicolas  Perrot's  Memoir e  on 
the  customs  of  the  Indians.  His  remark  is  as 
follows:  "It  may  well  be  that  in  the  infant  Mis- 
sissippi disguised  under  a  Sioux  name,  our  two 
travellers  did  not  recognise  the  large  and  mighty 
stream  of  which  the  Hurons  spoke  to  them  under 
its  Algonquin  name.  In  this  case  they  would, 
without  knowing  it,  have  been  the  first  in  the 
seventeenth  century  to  see  the  Mississippi,  which 
in  the  sixteenth  had  been  discovered  by  De  Soto." 

But  if  we  cannot  give  Radisson  and  Groseilliers 
the  credit  for  having  in  any  conscious  manner 
forestalled  Joliet,  Marquette,  and  La  Salle,  they 
had  the  satisfaction  of  traversing  a  wide  stretch 
of  territory  which  hitherto  had  gone  unexplored. 
Moreover,  in  July,  1660,  they  returned  to  Mon- 
treal with  three  hundred  Indians  and  a  cargo  of 
furs  worth  200,000  livres.  It  is  interesting  to 
conjecture  what  might  have  happened  to  them 
and  their  booty  if  Dollard  and  his  fellows  had  not 
sold  their  lives  so  dearly  at  the  Long  Sault,  three 
months  before.  As  it  was,  the  Iroquois  did  not 
intercept  them,  and  they  reached  their  home  at 
Three  Rivers  in  triumph. 

Having  achieved  an  extraordinary  success, 
Groseilliers   and   Radisson   were   not   long   content 


2o6         The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut 

to  remain  inactive.  In  one  quarter,  however, 
good  fortune  told  against  them.  Unless  they  could 
secure  a  license,  it  was  illegal  to  frequent  the  lands 
of  the  Sioux  and  the  Assiniboines.  Groseillier 
promptly  asked  D'Avaugour  for  his  permission, 
but  the  Governor's  cupidity  was  aroused  by  what 
he  had  heard  of  the  profits.  To  blackmail  a  cou- 
reur de  bois  seemed  fair  play  at  the  Chateau  St. 
Louis,  and  D'Avaugour  proposed  that  an  agent  of 
his  own  should  go  with  the  expedition,  receiving 
half  the  proceeds.  Groseillier  rejected  this  sug- 
gestion as  wholly  unreasonable,  and  after  rest- 
ing a  twelvemonth  the  two  partners  left  for  the 
wilderness  without  leave.  They  were  gone  two 
years,  and  probably  carried  their  explorations  to 
the  Lake  of  the  Woods.  The  belief  that  they 
arrived  at  the  shore  of  Hudson's  Bay  seems  not 
well  founded.  Once  more  they  accumulated  a  large 
freight  of  furs,  with  which  they  returned  in  1663. 
We  now  reach  the  turning  point  in  the  career 
of  these  robust  adventurers.  So  far  from  reward- 
ing them  for  their  discoveries,  D'Avaugour  remem- 
bered their  surreptitious  leave-taking  with  a  heavy 
fine.  The  amount  was  so  exorbitant  that  in  per- 
son they  carried  their  protest  to  France.  Find- 
ing no  redress  at  court,  they  began  that  long  series 
of  intrigues  with  the  English  which  was  destined 
to  ruin  their  reputations  without  bringing  them 
much  solid  advantage.  From  what  the  Crees 
had  told  them  of  the  hunting  about  Hudson's 
Bay,  they  conceived  the  idea  that  unprecedented 
profits  might  be  reaped  from  the  opening  up  of 
maritime   trade   with   the   Far   North.     This    was 


The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut       207 

the  prize  which  they  dangled  before  the  merchants 
of  Boston  in  1664,  and  before  the  EngUsh  court 
from  1665  to  1668.  It  is  an  incredible  turn  of 
the  wheel  which  carries  these  coureurs  de  bois 
from  the  untracked  wilderness  beyond  Lake  Supe- 
rior to  the  Whitehall  of  Charles  11.  None  the 
less  they  became  the  promoters  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company,  in  the  same  sense  that  Prince 
Rupert  is  its  founder.  The  social  adaptability  of 
the  French  is  illustrated  to  perfection  by  the  way 
in  which  Radisson  and  Groseilliers  met  whatever 
chances  fortune  brought  them.  They  must  have 
known  that  by  going  to  Boston  and  London,  they 
would  cut  themselves  off  from  New  France.  But 
risks  did  not  daunt  them,  and  their  imaginations 
always  took  fire  at  fresh  schemes.  As  a  result 
of  their  representations  the  stock  book  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  was  opened  in  1667,  and 
the  year  following  they  set  off  for  Rupert's  River 
in  two  English  ships.  That  Radisson  had  found 
an  English  wife  in  the  daughter  of  Sir  John  Kirke 
is  a  further  detail  of  some  interest. 

In  Hudson's  Bay  our  Frenchmen  met  with 
adventures  more  extraordinary  than  any  which 
had  befallen  them  among  the  Assiniboines  and 
Sioux.  On  the  voyage  of  1668  the  Eaglet,  with 
Radisson  aboard,  was  compelled  by  a  furious 
storm  to  turn  back,  but  Groseilliers  in  the  No7i- 
such  Ketch  entered  the  Bay,  and  did  not  return 
to  England  without  a  good  cargo.  Other  voyages 
followed  during  the  next  few  seasons,  and  Radis- 
son, like  his  brother,  sailed  to  Rupert's  River  in 
an  English  ship. 


2o8         The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut 

But  a  life  of  peace  was  not  what  suited  the 
temper  of  this  restless  pair.  After  deaUng  with 
the  English  for  ten  years,  they  became  dissatisfied. 
From  London  to  Paris  is  not  a  long  journey,  and 
in  1674  they  crossed  the  Channel,  saw  Colbert, 
and  placed  themselves  at  his  disposal.  Their  recep- 
tion was  neither  very  good  nor  very  bad.  Col- 
bert declined  to  give  them  lucrative  employment, 
but  they  must  have  received  an  assurance  that 
they  might  safely  revisit  Canada.  In  1675  they 
both  landed  at  Quebec,  and  cast  an  eye  about  to 
see  what  chances  were  offering.  Groseilliers,  who 
was  no  longer  young,  then  settled  for  a  time  at 
Three  Rivers  in  the  midst  of  an  indulgent  family. 
Radisson,  not  liking  the  prospect,  returned  to 
France  and  took  service  in  the  navy  under  the 
Due  D'Estrees.  For  the  next  three  years  he  was 
fighting  against  the  Dutch  in  the  West  Indies— 
apparently  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Admiral, 
for  on  leaving  the  navy  in  1678  he  received  a 
gratuity  of  a  hundred  louis.  By  this  time  Radis- 
son began  to  pine  for  another  glimpse  of  the  North- 
west, and  after  failing  to  procure  a  commission 
from  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  he  connected 
himself  with  La  Chesnaye,  one  of  the  richest 
men  in  Canada  and  a  person  of  speculative 
instincts. 

The  result  of  this  association  was  that  Radis- 
son, Groseilliers,  and  Groseilliers'  son,  Jean-Bap- 
tiste,  went  together  to  Hudson's  Bay  in  1682 
with  two  boats  provided  by  La  Chesnaye.  Here 
they  met  a  number  of  English  who  formerly  had 
been   their   colleagues,   but  whom  it   now  became 


The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut        209 

Radisson's  duty  to  outwit.  Having  done  this  with 
great  cleverness  and  want  of  scruple,  he  and 
Groseilliers  left  Jean-Baptiste  at  the  Bay  and 
returned  to  Quebec  with  a  fine  cargo  of  furs,  a 
ship  captured  from  the  English,  and  greatly  en- 
hanced prestige.  The  two  allies  then  sailed  for 
France. 

Their  last  escapade  was  to  desert  the  French 
once  more.  In  the  spring  of  1684,  at  the  instance 
of  Sir  Wiliam  Young,  they  went  back  to  the  employ 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  Doubtless  their 
exploit  of  the  year  before  had  revived  confidence 
in  their  talents — and  as  for  honesty,  they  could 
be  watched.  The  terms  of  their  fresh  treachery 
were  settled  just  before  the  Company's  boats 
left  for  the  Bay  in  1684.  Groseilliers  did  not  go 
on  the  voyage,  but  Radisson  in  the  Happy  Return 
sailed  for  Hayes  River,  found  his  nephew  Jean- 
Baptiste,  and  having  talked  him  over  from  the 
French  side  to  the  English,  brought  back  a  record 
cargo  of  beaver  skins. 

This  was  the  last  adventure  of  Radisson.  Gro- 
seilliers had  grown  too  old  for  hard  work  in  the 
wilderness,  and  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  seems 
to  have  felt  that  in  pensioning  these  two  French- 
men of  superabundant  activity,  it  had  made  sure 
they  would  not  cause  further  trouble.  The  old 
age  of  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  is  a  somewhat 
ignominious  comment  upon  the  exploits  of  their 
youth,  but  no  coureurs  de  bois  ever  had  such  a 
range  of  experience.  If,  resisting  temptation,  they 
had  not  turned  against  their  country  because 
D'Avaugour  tried  to  blackmail  them,  they  might 


2IO         The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut 

have  employed  their  talents  no  less  serviceably 
and  preserved  a  brighter  fame. 

The  coureur  de  hois  is  seen  at  his  best  in  Daniel 
de  GresoUon,  Sieur  Du  Lhut.  It  is  hard  to  believe 
that  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  ever  fixed  their 
ambitions  on  a  loftier  object  than  the  exploita- 
tion of  new  territory  for  their  private  advantage. 
However  much  they  loved  novelty  and  the  excite- 
ment which  comes  from  danger,  the  business 
chance  was  uppermost  in  their  thoughts.  Like 
them,  Du  Lhut  traded  with  the  Indians,  but 
nature  had  given  him  a  larger  mind,  a  more  imper- 
sonal outlook.  The  fact  that  he  was  better  born 
might  of  itself  mean  little,  but  taken  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  whole  course  of  his  actions,  it  points 
towards  a  higher  and  clearer  sense  of  public  respon- 
sibility. The  late  Wilham  M'Lennan  entitled  his 
admirable  sketch  of  Du  Lhut,  "A  Gentleman  of 
the  Royal  Guard."  The  phrase  was  well  chosen, 
for  this  woodsman,  "the  king  of  the  coureurs  de 
bois  J'  acted  in  a  manner  which  bespeaks  inherited 
standards.  Unless  one  is  much  mistaken,  he  was 
a  fearless,  judicious,  self-respecting  pioneer,  work- 
ing for  French  ascendency  in  the  West,  and  worthy 
to  be  trusted  with  the  care  of  large  interests. 

Du  Lhut's  father  belonged  to  the  gentry,  and 
on  his  mother's  side  he  came  from  the  upper  bour- 
geoisie. His  birthplace  was  St.  Germain-en-Laye, 
and,  while  the  exact  year  is  not  known,  he  must 
have  been  born  not  later  than  1650.  In  a  letter 
written  towards  the  close  of  1681,  he  says  that  he 
had  been  twice  in  Canada  before  1674,  but  the 
circumstance  of  most  importance  in  his  early  life 


The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut        211 

was  his  enrolment  among  the  Royal  Guard — a 
regiment  whose  very  privates  were  required  to 
show  quarterings.  At  the  great  battle  of  Senef 
he  had  charged  with  the  household  troops,  when 
Conde  at  their  head  won  victory  from  the  Prince 
of  Orange.  The  capture  of  a  hundred  flags  left 
the  French  covered  with  glory.  The  slaughter 
of  nearly  thirty  thousand  men  showed  that  it 
was  war.  Besides  Du  Lhut,  another  survivor  of 
this  dreadful  day  at  Senef  was  Louis  Hennepin. 

Shortly  after  the  campaign  of  Senef,  Du  Lhut, 
for  some  reason  unknown,  took  up  permanent 
residence  in  Canada.  Continuing  to  hold  his  mili- 
tary rank  and  to  draw  half-pay,  he  settled  for  a 
time  at  Montreal.  Here  he  built  a  good  house 
in  the  best  part  of  the  town,  and  lived  like  a  well- 
to-do  citizen  who  had  abandoned  the  career  of 
arms  for  business.  With  him  in  Canada  were  his 
brother,  Claude  Gresollon  de  la  Tourette;  his  uncle, 
Jacques  Patron,  a  prosperous  merchant  from  Lyons; 
his  brother-in-law,  De  Lussigny,  an  officer  of  Fron- 
tenac's  guard;  and  his  cousin,  Henri  Tonty,  the 
enthusiastic  disciple  of  La  Salle.  During  the  quar- 
rel between  Frontenac  and  Duchesneau,  it  was 
often  said  by  the  Intendant  and  his  friends  that 
the  Governor  and  Du  Lhut  were  in  league  to  gain 
mutual  profit  from  illicit  trade.  This  charge  Fron- 
tenac repudiated  with  his  usual  vehemence,  making 
counter  accusations  against  Duchesneau.  What  the 
truth  was,  it  is  difficult  to  discover.  At  the  same 
time  we  may  feel  sure  that  a  soldier  of  Du  Lhut's 
antecedents  and  training  would  be  more  likely  to 
win  Frontenac' s  confidence  than  the  common  cou- 


212         The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut 

reur  de  hois,  who  was  by  birth  a  habitant  and  had 
seen  nothing  of  the  world.  If  Du  Lhut  won  a 
place  for  himself  in  the  West,  it  was  through  his 
own  talents,  but  as  filling  a  quasi-political  role  in 
the  management  of  Indian  tribes,  he  knew  how 
to  carry  out  Frontenac's  policy  of  conciliation. 
Whatever  the  understanding  may  have  been  be- 
tween coureur  and  Governor — if  any  understand- 
ing existed — the  two  men  must  have  made  each 
other's  acquaintance  during  the  years  1675-1677, 
when  Du  Lhut  was  building  and  occupying  his 
house  at  Montreal. 

We  have  seen  how  Groseilliers  and  Radisson 
prepared  trouble  for  themselves  by  going  into 
the  wilderness  without  a  license.  Seventeen  years 
later  when  Du  Lhut  began  to  hear  the  call  of  the 
forest,  the  regulations  against  unauthorised  com- 
merce had  become  stricter  still.  By  an  edict  of 
1676  the  Governor  was  prevented  from  issuing  a 
congS  to  the  private  trader  whom  he  might  deem 
a  proper  recipient  of  such  a  favour.  The  com- 
plaint then  arose  that  this  measure  cut  off  the 
colony  from  many  nations  dwelling  to  the  west 
of  Lake  Superior.  Frontenac,  who  was  by  no 
means  a  blind  champion  of  the  coureurs  de  bois, 
disapproved  of  the  edict  and  to  some  extent  nullified 
it.  He  could  not  give  a  congd,  but  he  could  grant 
a  hunting  license,  and  he  could  despatch  messen- 
gers to  tribes  of  distant  Indians.  Throughout  his 
first  term  of  office  the  question  was  incessantly 
debated.  Governor  and  Intendant  besieged  the 
home  government  with  conflicting  representations. 
The   king,   in   turn,   found   it   impossible   to   judge 


The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut       213 

who  was  right.  In  1679  La  Toupine,  a  subordinate 
of  Du  Lhut,  was  arrested  by  the  Intendant.  His 
defence  was  that  he  had  an  order  from  the  Gov- 
ernor. The  point  was  important,  for  the  law 
condemned  an  inveterate  coureur  de  hois  to  the 
galleys.  Finally  the  matter  was  compromised  on 
a  basis  favourable  to  the  view  of  Frontenac.  By 
an  edict  of  1681,  all  coureurs  then  in  the  wilder- 
ness were  offered  a  chance  to  come  home  in  peace. 
It  was  an  express  condition  that  there  should  be 
no  delay,  but  to  the  repentant  woodsman  an 
amnesty  was  held  out.  For  the  future,  the  Gov- 
ernor was  allowed  to  issue  twenty-five  licenses, 
each  good  for  a  year  and  enabling  the  holder  to 
send  out  one  canoe  with  three  men.  These  conges 
were  granted  expressly  for  the  benefit  of  poor 
gentlemen,  and  officers  with  children.  But  the 
grantees  might  sell  them,  as  may  be  seen  from 
the  fact  that  Radisson's  ally.  La  Chesnaye,  acquired 
twelve. 

Such  was  the  attitude  of  the  government 
towards  coureurs  de  hois  at  the  time  when  Du 
Lhut  was  making  himself  the  chief  figure  among 
them.  To  some  it  has  seemed  strange  that  he 
should  sell  his  new  house  at  Montreal,  and  dis- 
appear in  the  forest.  But  if  we  trust  his  own 
account  of  the  matter,  there  is  no  difficulty.  Writ- 
ing to  Seignelay  in  1681,  he  makes  a  statement 
regarding  his  motives,  which  is  both  distinct  and 
reasonable.  This  is  to  the  effect  that  from  the 
time  of  his  earliest  acquaintance  with  New  France, 
he  had  been  eager  to  discover  the  country  of  the 
Sioux.     He  heard  every  one  harping  upon  the  obsta- 


2  14        The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut 

cles  and  saying  no  trade  could  be  established  there, 
because  it  was  eight  hundred  leagues  away  and 
the  Sioux  were  always  at  war  with  their  neigh- 
bours. *'But,"  says  Du  Lhut,  "this  difficulty 
made  me  resolve  to  go  to  them,"  For  a  time  his 
own  affairs  prevented.  Then  after  the  campaign 
of  Senef  he  returned  to  Canada,  where  as  soon  as 
he  had  arrived  his  former  resolve  became  strength- 
ened. His  first  step  was  to  make  himself  known 
among  the  savages,  and  when  they  had  shown 
proof  of  friendship  by  giving  him  three  slaves, 
he  set  out  from  Montreal  with  these  and  seven 
Frenchmen  on  September  i,  1678.  His  design, 
after  discovering  the  unknown  Sioux  and  Assini- 
boines,  was  to  effect  a  peace  between  them  and 
all  the  nations  dwelling  about  Lake  Superior. 

This  is  Du  Lhut's  own  story.  One  must  point 
out  that  it  occurs  in  an  exculpatory  letter,  writ- 
ten at  a  time  when  he  wished  to  clear  up  his  posi- 
tion with  the  authorities.  In  short,  he  had  gone 
away  without  a  license,  and  could  best  justify 
himself  by  putting  the  love  of  exploration  in  the 
foreground.  Even  so  the  tale  is  far  from  being 
improbable,  and  should  difficulty  arise  over  his 
residence  in  Montreal,  the  explanation  is  not 
inadequate.  Du  Lhut  accounts  for  his  delay  in 
going  to  the  Sioux  country  on  his  return  from 
the  campaign  of  Senef,  by  stating  that  he  wished 
to  make  himself  well  known  among  the  Indians. 
Montreal,  the  great  fur  market,  was  where  they 
chiefly  congregated,  and,  in  this  view  of  the  case, 
Du  Lhut's  residence  there  would  simply  have 
been    the   means   towards    an   end.     The   point    is 


The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut        215 

significant.  Are  we  to  believe  Du  Lhut's  own 
story,  which  minimises  the  motive  of  trade,  or 
shall  we  look  upon  it  as  a  cloak? 

The  best  answer  to  such  a  question  will  be 
found  in  what  followed.  For  the  next  thirty 
years  Du  Lhut  gave  himself  up  to  extending  French 
power  among  the  western  tribes.  His  record  of 
deeds  is  what  gives  us  his  measure,  and  judged 
by  it  he  is  not  to  be  distrusted.  Whether  as 
explorer  reporting  his  discoveries  with  terseness 
and  modesty,  or  as  a  warrior  throwing  his  heart 
into  the  defence  of  the  colony  against  the  Iroquois, 
or  as  a  commandant  entrusted  with  the  charge 
of  Lachine,  Cataraqui,  and  Mackinac,  he  equalled 
the  confidence  which  was  placed  in  him.  First 
reaching  prominence  under  the  regime  of  Fron- 
tenac,  each  successive  governor  was  glad  to  make 
use  of  his  services,  until  at  last,  crippled  by  gout, 
he  could  only  wait  for  the  end.  And  when  the 
end  came  Vaudreuil,  in  announcing  his  death  to 
the  Minister,  gave  him  an  epitaph  in  these  words: 
"He  was  a  very  honest  man." 

In  all  the  long  period  of  Du  Lhut's  residence 
among  the  Indians,  the  only  two  men  who  speak 
ill  of  him  are  Duchesneau  and  La  Salle.  Henne- 
pin damns  him  with  faint  praise,  but  this  is  obvi- 
ously because  the  friar  had  been  put  under  obliga- 
tions which  his  vanity  made  him  unwilHng  to 
recognise  at  their  proper  value.  Duchesneau' s  con- 
demnation is  traceable  to  the  belief,  whether  real 
or  assumed,  that  Du  Lhut  was  Frontenac's  active 
agent  in  the  field  of  illicit  trade.  La  Salle's  sharp 
words  have   their  root   in  personal  solicitude,   for 


21 6         The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut 

he  wanted  no  rival  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi. 
The  language  of  depreciation  to  which  he  resorts 
in  mentioning  Du  Lhut's  exploits  is  merely  a  sign 
of  his  own  nervousness.  Under  the  fear  of  being 
injured  by  the  presence  in  his  vicinity  of  another 
capable  and  enterprising  leader,  he  says  things 
which  do  discredit  to  his  great  talents.  Here  are 
some  of  his  charges.  Du  Lhut  at  the  head  of 
twenty  coureurs  de  hois  goes  about  boasting  that 
he  will  compel  the  government  to  give  him  an 
amnesty.  Among  the  Indians  he  plays  the  part 
of  an  envoy,  while  his  subordinates  industriously 
pick  up  beaver  skins.  He  has  stolen  away  one 
of  La  Salle's  interpreters.  He  is  not  the  discov- 
erer of  the  Sioux  country,  since  Hennepin  and 
Accault  were  there  before  him.  Furthermore  the 
region  is  worthless  because  it  has  no  navigable 
rivers,  and  is  filled  only  with  wild  rice.  La  Salle's 
last  shaft  is  that  Du  Lhut's  rescue  of  Hennepin 
and  Accault  was  a  small  affair,  not  worth  speak- 
ing about.  None  the  less  La  Salle  is  at  great 
pains  to  take  away  his  last  shred  of  character. 
The  very  vigour  of  the  abuse  is  testimony  to  his 
competitor's  success.  Another  indirect  compli- 
ment comes  from  Duchesneau.  Less  than  two 
years  after  Du  Lhut  entered  the  forest,  the  Inten- 
dant  calls  him  the  chief  of  the  coureurs  de  hois. 

The  vindication  of  Du  Lhut  may  seem  in  turn 
a  disparagement  of  La  Salle.  But  the  foregoing 
paragraph  has  not  been  written  with  such  intent. 
Nothing  Du  Lhut  ever  did  is  so  brilliant  as  La 
Salle's  descent  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  Gulf. 
These  two  lovers  of  the  wilderness  had  different 


The  Coureur  dc  Bois — Du  Lhut        217 

gifts,  and  each  expressed  himself  in  his  own  way. 
Du  Lhut  had  a  steadiness  and  sagacity  which 
were  lacking  in  La  Salle.  He  could  put  his  talents 
into  joint  stock  with  those  of  other  people.  La 
Salle  in  his  self-centred  isolation,  his  intensity,  his 
hauteur,  is  more  impressive,  but  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  he  \^as  more  useful  to  his  country.  Du 
Lhut's  task  was  to  explore  thoroughly  the  lands 
of  the  Sioux,  through  only  a  part  of  which  Radis- 
son  and  Groiseilliers  had  passed,  to  build  forts 
among  the  Crees  and  Assiniboines,  to  establish 
the  reign  of  peace  among  these  western  tribes, 
and  to  bring  them  all  into  cordial  relations  with 
France.  Between  them,  he  and  Nicolas  Perrot 
were  worth  more  to  their  nation  than  a  regiment 
of  regulars. 

All  this  implies  that  Du  Lhut  possessed  cer- 
tain quahties.  Without  a  peculiar  combination 
of  gifts  it  was  impossible  to  impress  the  Indian 
mind  and  establish  a  lasting  alliance.  Eloquence,  / 
generosity,  and  a  fine  bearing  were  the  best  cre- 
dentials which  a  French  envoy  could  take  with 
him  to  the  wilderness.  But  having  through  their 
help  created  a  good  effect,  the  solid  virtues  of  hon- 
our and  straightforwardness  were  needed  to  render 
the  friendship  permanent.  In  many  ways  the 
savage  was  a  child,  and  just  as  a  child  must  never 
be  told  a  falsehood,  the  Indian  treasured  up  acts 
of  treachery  in  his  heart.  He  also  had  an  instinct 
for  detecting  signs  of  weakness.  The  white  man 
who  would  win  his  respect  must  be  firm  and  truth- 
ful, fulfilling  his  engagements  to  the  letter  and 
exacting  justice  when  the  savage  himself  was  the 


21 8        The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut 

offender.  Neither  Du  Lhut  nor  Perrot  gained 
their  ascendency  over  the  western  tribes  by 
debauching  them  with  strong  drink.  They  were 
good  judges  of  character — open-handed,  tactful, 
fearless.  The  establishment  of  a  general  peace 
was  their  object,  and  not  the  destruction  of  the 
natives  through  drunkenness.  One  must  always 
distinguish  between  the  sordid,  ignoble  coureur 
de  bois,  who  would  commit  murder  for  a  pack  of 
beaver  skins,  and  the  leaders  of  larger  outlook, 
who  sought  to  establish  a  bond  between  the  white 
man  and  the  red,  on  the  basis  of  mutual  advan- 
tage. 

A  detailed  sketch  of  Du  Lhut's  career  would 
carry  us  far  beyond  our  present  limits,  but  in 
conclusion  we  may  fitly  consider  two  matters 
which  throw  light  upon  his  character  and  methods. 
Of  these,  the  first  is  the  story  of  his  relations  with 
Hennepin.  The  second,  is  the  course  of  his  pro- 
cedure in  dealing  with  Folle  Avoine  on  a  charge 
of  murder. 

Louis  Hennepin,  RecoUet  friar  and  lineal 
descendant  of  Sir  John  Maundeville,  came  to 
Canada  in  1675,  having  for  companions  on  the 
voyage  Laval  and  La  Salle.  He  remained  for  a 
lime  at  Quebec,  and  was  then  sent  as  a  missionary 
to  Fort  Frontenac.  If  a  guileless  world  believ^ed 
his  tale,  nothing  great  that  was  done  in  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi  originated  with  others.  To  repre- 
sent the  missionary  interest,  he  accompanied  La 
Salle  on  the  expedition  of  1678.  Tonty  disliked 
him,  and  is  credited  by  Hennepin  with  feelings 
of  acute  jealousy.     La  Salle  accused  him  of  lying, 


The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut        219 

but  softened  the  charge  by  saying  that  on  account 
of  his  disposition  he  could  not  help  it.  The  mod- 
ern reader  cannot  fail  to  love  his  smooth  and  cheer- 
ful mendacity,  his  complacent  egotism,  and  the 
manner  in  which  he  exalts  himself  from  the  low 
estate  of  supercargo  to  the  headship  of  the  whole 
enterprise. 

On  February  20th,  1680,  La  Salle  despatched 
from  Fort  Crevecoeur  a  small  exploring  party 
headed  by  Michel  Accault,  and  comprising,  be- 
sides the  leader,  Hennepin  and  a  Picard  named 
Augel.  Their  function  was  to  report  upon  the 
valleys  of  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi  for  some 
distance  below  Fort  Crevecoeur,  while  La  Salle 
returned  to  Fort  Frontenac  in  search  of  further 
supplies.  After  following  the  Mississippi  south- 
ward for  some  time  and  finding  no  furs,  Accault 
decided  to  ascend  the  river.  The  consequence  of 
this  change  in  their  route  was  that  Hennepin  and 
his  companions  were  caught  by  a  war  party  of 
Sioux,  who  dragged  them  about  in  their  train  for 
several  months.  Towards  the  close  of  the  sum- 
mer, Du  Lhut  appeared  upon  the  scene  and  extri- 
cated the  three  Frenchmen  from  a  most  unpleasant 
predicament. 

When  Hennepin  came  to  write  his  book  he  was 
placed  in  a  dilemma.  On  the  one  hand,  he  wished 
to  magnify  the  dangers  he  had  encountered;  on 
the  other,  he  was  anxious  to  avoid  giving  Du  Lhut 
credit  for  having  rescued  him.  In  consequence, 
his  narrative  turns  some  very  sharp  corners.  Du 
Lhut,  writing  to  Seignelay,  touches  the  subject 
briefly  and  simply.     His  story  is  that,  on  reaching 


220        The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut 

the  edge  of  the  Sioux  country  in  1680,  he  heard  of 
three  Frenchmen  who  had  been  captured  by  this 
tribe,  and  sold  as  slaves  among  them.  Thereupon 
he  hastened  with  only  an  interpreter  and  two 
French  followers  to  the  spot  where  they  were,  trav- 
elling eighty  leagues  by  canoe  in  forty-eight  hours.* 
On  his  arrival  he  found  Hennepin  encompassed  by 
over  a  thousand  savages,  and  his  condition  such 
that  Du  Lhut  writes:  "Le  peu  de  cas  qu'on  fai- 
soit  du  Reverend  Pere  me  fascha."  His  first  step 
was  to  call  Hennepin  his  elder  brother.  He  then 
took  the  friar,  with  Accault  and  Augel,  to  the 
part  of  country  where  he  was  staying,  and  eight 
days  later  held  a  council  with  the  Indians.  To 
this  assembly  he  explained  that  they  had  been 
guilty  of  bad  conduct  in  reducing  three  French- 
men to  slavery,  and  in  taking  from  the  Reverend 
Father  his  sacerdotal  garments.  He  insisted  that 
the  captives  should  be  released  to  him,  and  car- 
ried them  away  in  safety,  though  it  had  been  his 
purpose  to  keep  on  to  the  western  sea.  As  he 
told  Hennepin,  it  would  not  do  to  suffer  an  insult 
of  such  a  nature  without  showing  some  resent- 
ment. 

Over  all  these  matters  Hennepin  glides  grace- 
fully without  a  word,  until  he  reaches  the  Council. 
To  judge  from  his  narrative  the  two  Frenchmen 
might  have  been  meeting  in  the  heart  of  Paris. 
Speaking  of  Du  Lhut  and  his  party,  the  friar  says: 
"They  desired  us,  because  we  had  some  knowl- 
edge of  the  language  of  the  Issati,  to  accompany 
them    back    to    the    villages    of    those    people.      I 

*  This  was  a  league  of  two  miles. 


The  Coureur  de  Bois  — Du  Lhut        221 

readily  agreed  to  their  request,  especially  when  I 
understood  that  they  had  not  received  the  sacra- 
ments in  the  whole  two  years  and  a  half  that  they 
had  been  out  upon  their  voyage."  He  also  vouch- 
safes that  one  of  the  Sioux  said  to  Du  Lhut: 
"Father  Louis  is  greater  than  thou.  His  robe 
is  finer  than  what  thou  wearest."  When  it  comes 
to  the  Council,  Hennepin  does  not  even  mention 
Du  Lhut,  but  puts  himself  and  his  speech  boldly 
into  the  foreground.  He  also  describes  how  Ouasi- 
coude,  the  chief  captain  of  the  Sioux,  "marked 
with  a  piece  of  pencil,  which  I  had  left,  the  course 
we  were  to  keep  for  four  hundred  leagues  together. 
In  short,  this  natural  geographer  described  our 
way  so  exactly  that  this  chart  served  us  as  well 
as  my  compass  could  have  done.  For  by  observ- 
ing it  punctually  we  arrived  at  the  place  which 
we  designed,  without  losing  our  way  in  the  least." 

Du  Lhut,  then,  counted  for  nothing.  Henne- 
pin consented  to  go  with  him  because  these  cou- 
reurs  de  bois  had  not  received  the  sacraments  for 
two  and  a  half  years.  The  Sioux  preferred  his 
appearance  to  that  of  Du  Lhut.  He  it  was  who 
dominated  the  Council,  and  into  his  hands  Ouasi- 
coude  delivered  the  chart  which  enabled  them 
to  return  in  safety.  Why  he  had  not  done  all 
this  several  months  before,  Father  Louis  does  not 
condescend  to  explain.  Had  Du  Lhut  known 
how  his  services  would  be  described,  he  might 
not  have  taken  the  trouble  to  travel  eighty  leagues 
in  forty-eight  hours! 

Of  the  return  journey  to  Mackinac,  Hennepin 
says  a  good  deal,  but  the  best  bit  is  his  account 


2  22        The  Coureur  de  Bois— Du  Lhut 

of  a  dispute  which  arose  between  Du  Lhut  and 
himself.  This  is  so  good  that  a  large  part  of  it 
must  be  given  in  his  own  words,  following  the 
Enghsh  translation  of  1698. 

"All  things  being  ready,  we  disposed  ourselves 
to  depart,  being  eight  Europeans  of  us  in  all.  .  .  . 
We  fell  down  the  river  of  St.  Francis,  and  then 
that  of  the  Meschasipi.  Two  of  our  men,  without 
saying  anything,  had  taken  down  two  robes  of 
castor,  from  before  the  fall  of  St.  Anthony  of  Padua, 
where  the  barbarians  had  hung  them  upon  a  tree 
as  a  sort  of  sacrifice.  Hereupon  arose  a  dispute 
between  the  Sieur  du  Luth  and  myself.  I  com- 
mended what  they  had  done,  sa}^ing,  'The  bar- 
barians might  judge  by  it  that  we  disapproved 
their  superstition.'  On  the  contrary  the  Sieur 
du  Luth  maintained  that  they  ought  to  have  left 
the  things  alone  in  that  place  where  they  were, 
for  that  the  savages  would  not  fail  to  revenge  the 
affront  which  we  had  put  upon  them  by  this  action, 
and  that  it  was  to  be  feared  lest  they  should  pur- 
sue and  insult  us  by  the  way. 

"I  own  he  had  some  grounds  for  what  he  said, 
and  that  he  argued  according  to  the  rules  of  human 
prudence.  But  the  two  men  answered  him  that 
the  things  fitted  them,  and  therefore  that  they 
should  not  trouble  their  heads  about  the  savages 
nor  their  superstitions.  The  Sieur  du  Luth  fell 
into  so  violent  a  passion  at  these  words  that  he 
had  like  to  have  struck  the  fellow  that  spake  them; 
but  I  got  between  and  reconciled  the  matter;  for 
the  Picard  and  Michael  Ako  began  to  side  with  those 
that  had  taken  away  the  things  in  question,  which 


The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut       223 

might  have  proved  of  ill  consequence.  I  assured 
the  Sieur  du  Luth  that  the  savages  durst  not  hurt 
us,  for  that  I  was  persuaded  their  grand  captain 
Ouasicoude  would  always  make  our  cause  his  own, 
and  that  we  might  rely  on  his  word,  and  the  great 
credit  he  had  amongst  those  of  his  nation.  Thus 
the  business  was  peaceably  made  up,  and  we 
sailed  down  the  river  together  as  good  friends 
as  ever,  hunting  the  wild  beasts  as  we  went." 

But  this  was  not  the  end  of  the  affair.  Shortly 
afterwards,  the  Sioux  overtook  them.  For  what 
ensued  we  must  return  to  Hennepin. 

**The  Sieur  du  Luth  had  reason  to  believe 
that  the  three  savages  but  now  mentioned  were 
really  spies  sent  to  observe  our  actions;  for  indeed 
they  knew  that  we  had  taken  away  the  robes  of 
castor  from  before  the  fall  of  St.  Anthony.  He 
could  not  forego  his  fears,  but  told  me  we  should 
serve  the  fellow  right  if  we  should  force  him  to 
carry  them  back  and  leave  them  in  the  place  where 
he  found  them.  I  foresaw  discord  would  be  our 
destruction,  and  so  made  myself  mediator  of  the 
peace  once  more.  I  appeased  the  fray  by  remon- 
strating that  God,  who  had  preserved  us  hitherto 
in  the  greatest  dangers,  would  have  a  more  peculiar 
care  of  us  on  this  occasion  because  the  man's  action 
was  good  in  itself. 

*  'Two  days  after,  all  our  provisions  being  dressed 
and  fit  to  keep,  we  prepared  to  depart.  But  the 
Sieur  du  Luth  was  mightily  surprised  when  he 
perceived  a  fleet  of  an  hundred  and  forty  canoes, 
carrying  about  an  hundred  and  fifty  men,  bearing 
down  directly  upon  us.     Our  men's  consternation 


2  24         The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut 

was  no  less  than  the  Sieur's;  but  when  they  saw 
me  take  out  from  amongst  our  equipage  a  calumet 
of  peace  which  the  Issati  had  given  us  as  a  pledge 
of  their  friendship  and  protection,  they  took  heart 
and  told  me  they  would  act  as  I  should  direct. 

"I  ordered  two  of  them  to  embark  with  me  in 
a  canoe,  to  meet  the  savages.  But  the  Sieur 
desired  me  to  take  a  third  to  row,  that,  by  stand- 
ing in  the  middle  of  the  canoe,  I  might  the  better 
show  the  pipe  of  peace,  which  I  carried  in  my 
hand  to  appease  the  barbarians,  whose  language 
I  understood  indifferently  well.  The  other  four 
of  our  men  I  left  with  the  Sieur  du  Luth,  and  told 
them  in  case  any  of  the  young  warriors  should 
land  and  come  up  to  them,  they  should  by  no 
means  discourse  or  be  familiar  with  them;  but 
that  they  should  keep  their  arms  ready  fixed. 
Having  given  these  orders  I  went  into  my  canoe, 
to  the  barbarians  who  were  a-coming  down  the 
river  in  theirs. 

''  Seeing  no  chief  amongst  them,  I  called  out  as 
loud  as  I  could,  Ouasicoude,  Ouasicoude,  repeat- 
ing his  name  several  times.  At  last  I  perceived 
him  rowing  up  towards  me;  al)  this  while  none 
of  his  people  had  affronted  us,  which  I  looked 
upon  as  a  good  omen.  I  concealed  my  reed  of 
peace,  the  better  to  let  them  see  how  much  I  relied 
upon  their  word.  Soon  after,  we  landed  and  entered 
the  cabin  where  the  Sieur  du  Luth  was,  who  would 
have  embraced  their  captain.  Here  we  must 
observe  that  'tis  not  the  custom  of  the  savages 
to  embrace  after  the  manner  of  the  French.  I 
told  the  Sieur  du  Luth  that  he  need  only  present 


Frontispiece  to  Hennepin's  Voyages 


The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut       225 

him  with  a  piece  of  the  best  boiled  meat  that  he 
had,  and  that  in  case  he  eat  of  it  we  were  safe. 

'*  It  happened  according  to  our  wish;  all  the 
rest  of  the  captains  of  this  little  army  came  to 
visit  us.  It  cost  our  folks  nothing  but  a  few  pipes 
of  Martinico  tobacco,  which  these  people  are  pas- 
sionately fond  of,  though  their  own  be  stronger, 
more  agreeable,  and  of  a  much  better  scent.  Thus 
the  barbarians  w-ere  very  civil  to  us,  without  ever 
mentioning  the  robes  of  castor.  The  chief  Ouasi- 
coude  advised  me  to  present  some  pieces  of  Mar- 
tinico tobacco  to  the  Chief  Aquipaguetin,  who 
had  adopted  me  for  his  son.  This  civihty  had 
strange  effects  upon  the  barbarians,  who  went 
off  shouting  and  repeating  the  word  Louis,  which, 
as  we  said,  signifies  the  Sun.  So  that  I  must  say, 
without  vanity,  my  name  will  be  as  it  were  immor- 
tal amongst  these  people  by  reason  of  its  jumping 
so  accidentally  with  that  of  the  Sun." 

No  further  comment  upon  Hennepin  is  required, 
save  this.  Du  Lhut  must  have  breathed  deep 
when  he  parted  with  companions  who  sought  to 
cure  the  savages  of  superstition  by  stealing  their 
votive  offerings. 

The  affair  with  Folle  Avoine  must  be  consid- 
ered much  more  briefly.  In  1684  Du  Lhut  was 
commander  of  the  fort  at  Mackinac,  the  chief 
French  outpost  of  the  Far  West.  His  position 
made  him  responsible  for  the  preservation  of 
order  throughout  the  whole  region  around  Lake 
Superior,  and  for  the  maintenance  of  French  pres- 
tige among  the  western  tribes.  In  these  circum- 
stances he  was  apprised  that  two  Frenchmen  had 


226        The  Coureur  de  Bois— Du  Lhut 

been  murdered  by  the  Indians.  Who  the  mur- 
derers were,  remained  to  be  proved,  but  from  the 
outset  only  four  men  came  under  suspicion.  These 
were  FoUe  Avoine,  Achiganaga,  and  two  of  Achi- 
ganaga's  sons  whose  names  are  not  given.  Achi- 
ganaga was  the  head  of  a  tribe,  and  FoUe  Avoine 
could  also  command  a  following. 

Presently,  through  Father  Albanel,  news  reached 
Du  Lhut  that  FoUe  Avoine  was  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie. 
The  French  there,  numbering  only  twelve,  were 
afraid  to  arrest  the  suspect,  since  the  savages 
threatened  a  general  massacre  if  Folle  Avoine  were 
touched.  On  receiving  the  message  Du  Lhut  made 
up  his  mind.  Going  at  once  to  Father  Enjalran, 
the  Jesuit  in  charge  of  the  Mackinac  mission,  he 
told  him  how  things  stood,  and  unfolded  his  plan. 
This  was  to  leave  Mackinac  the  next  morning  at 
daybreak,  with  six  Frenchmen,  and  in  person  ap- 
prehend Folle  Avoine  despite  his  threats.  Enjal- 
ran agreed  to  the  wisdom  of  the  course  and  offered 
himself  as  a  companion. 

Fearing  lest  Folle  Avoine  should  escape,  Du 
Lhut  divided  his  band  a  league  outside  the  village. 
Sending  the  others  forward,  he,  attended  by  Enjal- 
ran and  two  more,  turned  aside  to  arrest  the 
accused.  This  done,  a  guard  was  set  over  him, 
and  preparations  for  the  trial  began.  When  it 
came  to  collecting  evidence,  all  the  savages  of 
the  Sault  declared  that  Folle  Avoine  was  inno- 
cent. The  murderer,  they  said,  was  Achiganaga, 
and  since  Achiganaga  remained  at  large  with  his 
own  people  about  him,  there  seemed  little  chance 
of  sifting  the  case  to  the  bottom.     All  Du  Lhut 


The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut        227 

could  do  was  to  carry  off  FoUe  Avoine  with  him 
as  a  prisoner,  and  send  a  detachment  out  for  Achi- 
ganaga.  The  errand  was  full  of  danger,  but  Jean 
Pere,  to  whom  it  was  entrusted,  had  lived  long 
in  the  Indian  world  and  feared  nothing. 

A  month  later,  when  Du  Lhut  was  beginning 
to  feel  very  anxious  about  the  fate  of  this  party, 
Pere  returned  with  Achiganaga  and  his  four  sons. 
The  next  day  the  trial  began  in  full  council  of 
Indians  and  French.  Folle  Avoine  was  first  exam- 
ined, and  his  answers,  taken  down  in  writing,  were 
read  over  to  him  for  confirmation.  He  was  then 
removed  from  the  Council  under  guard.  Next,  the 
two  sons  of  Achiganaga,  who  were  suspected,  went 
through  a  similar  examination.  Subsequently  there 
was  a  cross-examination.  By  general  consent  Achi- 
ganaga was  acquitted,  but  the  guilt  of  his  two 
sons  and  Folle  Avoine  admitted  no  doubt.  The 
Indians  themselves  were  convinced,  and  the  elders 
said:  "It  is  enough.  You  accuse  one  another. 
Your  fate  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  Frenchmen." 

Apparently  the  Indians  thought  that  this  would 
be  the  end  of  the  matter.  But  Du  Lhut  was 
determined  to  execute  the  sentence.  Instead  of 
giving  the  pardon  which  was  expected,  he  held 
another  council.  The  four  hundred  Indians  there 
assembled  began  to  sulk,  and  Du  Lhut  knew  that 
the  tribes  of  the  back  country  openly  declared 
they  would  have  vengeance  if  their  people  were 
harmed.  Undeterred  by  silence  in  his  presence 
and  murmuring  from  without,  Du  Lhut  told  the 
savages  that  the  murder  having  been  committed 
by  members  of  two  tribes,   one   from  each   must 


228         The  Coureur  de  Bois — Du  Lhut 

die.  He  would  forgive  the  younger  son  of  Achi- 
ganaga,  but  not  the  elder  nor  Folle  Avoine.  Then 
two  chiefs  made  a  plea  for  the  condemned.  To 
their  supplication  Du  Lhut  replied  that  prisoners 
of  war  he  could  spare,  but  not  murderers.  After 
this  he  told  the  Jesuits  to  baptise  the  culprits  if 
they  so  desired.  An  hour  later,  standing  at  the 
head  of  forty-two  Frenchmen  in  the  presence  of 
four  hundred  savages,  Du  Lhut  gave  his  men  orders 
to  execute  the  sentence.  A  little  later  the  goods 
for  which  the  murder  had  been  committed  were 
recovered. 

But  we  can  follow  the  deeds  of  Du  Lhut  no 
farther.  The  adventures  of  the  coureurs  de  bois 
were  so  numerous  that  one  is  tempted  to  enlarge 
unduly  upon  them.  If  more  space  were  avail- 
able, the  career  of  Nicolas  Perrot  would  come 
next.  Of  his  long  intercourse  with  the  savages 
there  remains  a  striking  record  in  his  Treatise 
on  the  Manners,  Customs,  and  Religion  of  the 
North  American  Indians.  Pere  and  Le  Sueur  are 
two  other  members  of  this  group  about  whom 
much  might  be  said. 

After- all,  the  coureur  de  bois  belongs  in  a  special 
sense  to  those  who  are  under  twenty.  John  Bur- 
roughs says  that  if  a  time  ever  comes  when  you 
do  not  like  apples,  you  may  conclude  you  are  no 
longer  young.  And  the  same  sad  thought  must 
occur  to  all  who  read  with  flagging  interest  the 
Leather-stocking  Romances,  or  the  exploits  of  Gro- 
seilliers,  Radisson,  and  Du  Lhut. 


CHAPTER   Vn 
THE  INTEND  ANT— TALON 

THE  prosperity  of  the  wicked  has  been  a  source 
of  scandal  and  regret  to  many  a  pious  soul 
ever  since  the  days  of  the  Psalmist.  It  is  another 
bit  of  perversity  in  human  affairs  that  the  most 
useful  people  are  by  no  means  the  most  sure  to 
win  our  gratitude  and  affection.  Alfieri,  for  exam- 
ple, and  Lord  Byron  had  troops  of  admirers  in 
an  age  when  John  Howard,  the  prison  reformer, 
and  Sir  Samuel  Romilly,  the  reformer  of  the  crimi- 
nal law,  were  all  but  ignored  by  the  public  at 
large.  In  more  recent  times  the  elder  Dumas, 
through  the  hvely  talent  which  inspired  Monte 
Christo  and  the  Three  Musketeers,  became  a  popu- 
lar hero,  while  Pasteur  was  overlooked,  as  he 
plodded  along  in  the  quiet  laboratory  where  he 
was  revolutionising  the  theory  of  disease.  The 
plain  fact  is  that  mankind,  in  the  mass,  has  an 
idolatrous  worship  of  the  picturesque,  and  refuses 
to  be  interested  in  what  is  not  picturesque. 

These  remarks  are  placed  at  the  head  of  the 
present  chapter  because  Talon  was  not  a  man 
to  dazzle  even  his  contemporaries,  still  less  pos- 
terity.    He   is   one   of   those   quiet   workers   who, 

so  far  from  blazoning  their  names  in  crimson  and 

229 


230  The  Intendant — Talon 

gold  upon  the  page  of  history,  are  quite  content 
to  write  it  modestly  in  black.  If  it  were  not  in- 
cumbent to  give  a  correct  idea  of  Canadian  life 
under  the  Old  Regime,  he  might  be  omitted  from 
this  book  altogether.  In  no  case  can  he  be  decked 
out  with  theatrical  trappings.  He  was  simply  a 
business  man,  endowed  with  a  rare  capacity  for 
business  and  instinct  with  public  spirit.  Yet,  on 
the  whole,  he  appears  to  have  furthered  the  cause 
of  the  French  race  in  America  beyond  any  other 
official  whom  the  French  crown  ever  sent  to  the 
banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  In  short,  he  did  more 
than  any  one  else  to  build  up  the  population  of 
the  colony,  to  improve  its  agriculture,  to  stimulate 
its  industry,  to  extend  its  trade.  At  the  date 
of  his  arrival  (1665)  the  state  of  New  France  was 
wretched,  if  not  critical.  Seven  years  later,  when 
he  left  Quebec  for  the  last  time,  the  French  race 
had  been  established  in  America  on  a  firm  foun- 
dation. True,  it  might  be  overcome  in  war,  but 
that  it  would  survive  was  rendered  certain  by  the 
work  of  those  seven  years.  Without  pretending 
to  give  Talon  the  whole  credit  for  the  forward 
movement,  his  share  in  it  was  by  far  the  greatest. 
Such,  speaking  broadly,  is  my  own  conception 
of  Talon's  role  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  French- 
Canadian  race.  However,  for  a  more  complete 
and  authoritative  statement  on  this  point,  let  us 
refer  to  M.  Thomas  Chapais.  One  need  hardly 
state  that  four  years  ago  M.  Chapais  published  the 
most  thorough  and  detailed  account  of  Talon's 
career  which  has  yet  appeared  in  either  language. 
The  tone  of  this  work  is  by  no  means  one  of  blind 


The  Intendant — Talon  231 

adulation.  In  Talon's  attitude  toward  the  Church, 
M.  Chapais  finds  ground  for  severe  censure.  Yet 
he  recognises  ungrudgingly  the  pricelessness  of 
the  service  that  Talon  rendered  to  French  Canada. 
Indeed  it  is  rather  difficult  to  select  any  single 
passage  for  quotation,  where  Chapais  devotes  so 
many  to  the  merits  and  services  of  the  Great 
Intendant.  The  one  I  shall  take  portrays  Talon 
standing  at  the  window  of  his  house  in  the  Upper 
Town  of  Quebec,  and  gazing  upon  the  magnifi- 
cent panorama  spread  out  before  him.  "As 
he  listened,"  asks  Chapais,  **to  the  sounds  of  hfe 
which  had  their  source  in  the  impulse  given  by 
his  o\Mi  keen  intelhgence,  did  his  thought,  detach- 
ing itself  from  present  sights  and  conditions, 
plunge  into  the  future?  Did  he  foresee  the  scope 
of  the  work  which  he  had  begun?  Did  he  under- 
stand the  whole  grandeur  of  the  task  which  he 
had  wTOught  among  so  many  risks  and  obstacles? 
In  a  word,  did  he  guess  that  his  efforts  would  have, 
as  their  result,  the  increase  and  victorious  expan- 
sion of  a  New  France  on  the  soil  of  America? 
We  cannot  doubt  it  when  we  remember  the  words 
he  spoke  to  Louis  XIV.:  This  part  of  the  French 
monarchy  is  destined  to  greatness.'  No,  no,  the 
patriotic  foresight  of  our  illustrious  intendant  was 
not  at  fault  when  he  wrote  these  lines!  This  part 
of  the  French  monarchy  has  truly  become  some- 
thing great.  Separated  from  the  old  mother  coun- 
try after  long  struggles,  she  has  turned  toward 
new  horizons.  She  has  passed  through  the  most 
dreadful  storms  and  survived  the  most  perilous 
crises.     The  httle  group  of  French  Canadians  which 


232  The  Intendant — Talon 

then  dwelt  upon  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
is  now  a  people  whose  invincible  vitality  defies  all 
attack.  The  poor  Quebec  of  1671  is,  after  two 
centuries  and  a  third,  transformed  into  a  fair  and 
populous  city.  The  humble  Villemarie  of  Mai- 
sonneuve  and  Jeanne  Mance  ranks  to-day  among 
the  thirty  or  forty  largest  towns  of  the  world. 
And  French  Canada,  proud  of  its  origins,  strong 
in  its  traditions,  marches  on  with  firm  tread  toward 
the  accomplishment  of  the  destiny  ordained  for 
it  by  Providence." 

As  will  be  observed,  the  foregoing  passage 
mounts  to  a  rhetorical  climax  which  illustrates 
the  pride  of  the  French  Canadians  in  the  tradi- 
tions that  have  come  down  to  them  from  the  sev- 
enteenth century.  It  is  here  quoted,  however, 
because  M.  Chapais  does  not  hesitate  to  make 
Talon  the  author  of  such  success  as  has  followed 
the  efforts  of  the  French  in  Canada.  His  are  the 
zeal  and  foresight  which  must  be  credited  with 
the  grand  result  the  world  now  sees — to  wit,  the 
three  million  French  of  North  America.  Whether 
Chapais  is  over-generous  we  need  not  now  inquire. 
The  essential  fact  is  that  the  most  learned  of 
Talon's  biographers  derives  from  the  brain  of  this 
official  whatever  was  best  in  the  execution  of  Louis 
XIV. 's  plans  for  the  upbuilding  of  French  power 
in  North  America. 

A  certain  amount  of  excitement  always  attends 
a  quarrel,  and  one  could  best  awaken  interest  in 
Talon  by  dwelling  upon  his  misunderstandings 
with  Laval.  But  more  important  are  the  charac- 
ter of  the  duties  he  discharged,   and  his  outlook 


Talon 


The  Intendant — Talon  233 

toward  problems  then  presented  by  the  state  of 
Canada.  These  subjects  I  shall  keep  in  the  fore- 
ground rather  than  any  of  the  small  altercations 
which  arose  between  him  and  his  contemporaries 
at  Quebec,  over  differences  of  policy. 

Talon's  life  presents  few  incidents  for  the 
biographer  outside  such  labours  as  were  connected 
with  his  discharge  of  public  duty.  He  belonged 
to  a  clever  family,  several  of  whom  distinguished 
themselves  at  the  bar.  There  were,  indeed,  no 
better  lawyers  in  France  during  the  age  of  Louis 
XIV.  than  Denis  and  Omer  Talon.  Some  his- 
torians of  the  family  have  ascribed  their  ability 
to  an  Irish  origin,  but  as  the  fact  is  disputed  we 
need  not  discuss  the  inference.  Jean  Talon,  the 
intendant,  was  born  at  Chalons-sur-Mame  in 
Champagne,  the  year  of  his  birth  probably  being 
1625  —  the  year  when  the  Jesuits  first  came  to 
Canada.  Talon  was  educated  chiefly  at  Paris  in 
an  advanced  school  caUed  the  College  de  Cler- 
mont, which  the  Jesuits  conducted.  By  a  some- 
what curious  coincidence,  Laval  was  studying  the- 
ology at  the  College  de  Clermont  at  the  very 
time  when  Talon  was  a  student  in  the  academic 
department.  But  apparently  the  two  men  did  not 
know  each  other  until  they  met  at  Quebec. 

In  forming  our  impression  of  Talon,  we  derive 
a  good  deal  of  assistance  from  the  portrait  which 
shows  him  as  he  was  in  the  prime  of  mental  power 
and  physical  vitaUty.  One  thinks  of  him  as  a 
business  man,  and  this,  par  excellence,  he  was. 
But  in  aspect  he  by  no  means  resembled  the  mod- 
ern man  of  business  with  whom  we  are  all  more 


2  34  The  Intendant — Talon 

or  less  familiar.  Take  a  captain  of  industry  like 
the  President  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  or 
the  General  Manager  of  the  United  States  Steel 
Co.  Whatever  qualities  and  endowments  he  may 
possess,  we  do  not  expect  him  to  look  Uke  a  trou- 
badour. Now,  Talon  resembles  Blondel  or  Ber- 
tram de  Born,  as  these  Provencal  sonneteers  and 
love  poets  of  the  twelfth  century  appear  to  the 
eye  of  fancy.  He  has  the  mobile  features,  the 
impressionable  face  of  the  poet  rather  than  the 
commanding,  self-controlled  countenance  of  the 
great  banker  or  the  great  administrator.  In  short, 
we  may  ascribe  to  Talon  an  imaginative  quality 
which  is  by  no  means  common  in  the  world  of 
commerce,  though  it  is  never  wholly  absent  from 
business  men  of  the  highest  stamp.  And  in  his 
case  breadth  of  outlook  did  not  interfere  with 
the  minutest  grasp  of  detail. 

Like  Colbert,  Talon  rose  in  the  world  by  attach- 
ing himself  to  the  fortunes  of  Mazarin.  He  was 
a  younger  man  than  Colbert,  and  had  not  reached 
a  place  of  any  great  prominence  at  the  time  when 
Louis  XIV.  ended  his  minority.  Yet  what  he  had 
done  he  had  done  well,  and  it  was  on  the  strength 
of  his  success  as  Intendant  of  Hainault  that  he 
received  his  Canadian  appointment.  And  here 
we  encounter  a  celebrated  term.  Talon  had  been 
an  intendant  in  France;  he  became  an  intendant 
in  Canada.  What  was  this  office  of  intendant 
which  we  meet  with  whenever  we  open  any  book 
on  the  Old  Regime  in  Canada? 

To  many  minds  such  a  question  will  inevitably 
suggest  thoughts  of  Bigot,  the  most   notorious  of 


The  Intendant — Talon  235 

the  Canadian  intendants,  and,  except  Talon,  the 
cleverest.  Bigot  is  one  of  those  picturesque  ras- 
cals whose  misdeeds  are  a  fixed  asset  of  the  his- 
torical novelist.  Nemesis  did  overtake  him,  but 
not  until  he  had  lavished  the  treasures  of  France 
upon  riotous  living,  at  a  time  when  the  fate  of 
Canada  was  hanging  in  the  balance.  Following 
Dr.  Doughty's  opinion,  Vaudreuil  had  no  brains, 
but  was  full  of  vanity.  Bigot  inspired  him  with 
that  sense  of  idolatrous  admiration  which  stupid 
men  so  often  feel  for  those  who  are  clever.  In 
consequence,  Vaudreuil  was  encouraged  to  believe 
that  he  could  let  Bigot  do  all  the  work  while  he 
received  all  the  credit.  Such,  at  least,  is  a 
plausible  view  of  the  attitude  adopted  by  the 
most  celebrated  intendant  towards  the  governor 
who  envied  and  thwarted  Montcalm.  Knowing 
about  Bigot,  we  are  inchned  to  suppose  that  because 
he  and  his  gang  grew  rich  in  office,  all  the  inten- 
dants were  thieves.  But  this  is  a  mistake.  As 
a  class,  the  intendants  of  New  France  were  an 
earnest,  hard-working  lot  of  men,  labouring  on 
wrong  lines,  but  doing  their  duty  without  thought 
of  self-enrichment  at  the  cost  of  the  colony.  Before 
going  farther,  we  must  see  what  powers  the  inten- 
dant possessed,  and  what,  also,  was  the  nature 
of  his  duties.  For  all  who  care  to  go  a  little  below 
the  surface  of  things,  these  are  matters  of  deep 
significance.  Nothing  distinguishes  the  life  of  Can- 
ada under  French  rule  from  its  life  under  British 
rule  so  completely  as  the  presence  of  the  inten- 
dant in  the  French  period,  and  the  complete 
absence    of    anj^thing    like    the    intendant    in    the 


236  The  Intendant — Talon 

British  period.  The  intendant  went  on  his  way 
with  less  pomp  than  the  governor,  but  beyond 
doubt  he  was  the  most  important  representative 
of  France  in  the  New  World.  Since  the  office 
itself  is  so  unlike  anything  with  which  we  are  now 
familiar,  and  since  it  was  filled  by  several  men 
of  marked  capacity,  it  is  well  to  remember  how 
the  intendant  first  enters  the  history  of  France, 
and  how  from  France  he  was  transplanted  to 
Canada. 

France  in  the  days  of  Louis  XIV.  was  an  abso- 
lute monarchy,  but  it  had  not  always  been  so. 
During  the  Middle  Ages  the  power  of  great  nobles 
like  the  Dukes  of  Normandy  and  Brittany,  the 
Counts  of  Flanders,  Champagne,  and  Toulouse, 
fettered  the  independence  of  the  crown.  The 
king  became  supreme  by  absorbing  into  his  own 
personal  possessions  the  fiefs  of  these  feudal  mag- 
nates. The  means  of  acquisition  involved  con- 
quest, marriage,  inheritance,  and  purchase, — a 
process  covering  centuries  and  marked  by  many 
famous  episodes.  What  Louis  le  Gros  had  com- 
menced in  the  twelfth  century  was  finished  by 
Louis  XL,  who  died,  owner  of  the  whole  realm, 
in  1485.  At  the  same  time  the  power  of  the  aris- 
tocracy had  not  quite  vanished.  In  the  age  of 
the  Reformation  there  were  still  nobles  of  much 
local  prestige  who  acted  as  governors,  under  the 
•crown,  of  whole  provinces  like  Normandy  and 
Brittany,  Champagne  and  Provence.  These  gov- 
ernors were  uniformly  of  ancient  lineage,  and 
never  forgot  that  their  ancestors  had  been  princes 
in  their  own  right.     It  was  the  natural  ambition 


The  Iiitendant — Talon  237 

of  each  to  place  the  crown  at  a  disadvantage  in 
the  hope  of  recovering  an  ancient  prestige  which 
every  duke  or  count  had  lost  through  the  rise 
of  the  monarchy.  As  a  rule,  the  governor  of 
Normandy  in  the  North,  or  of  Gascony  in  the 
South,  thought  much  more  about  how  he  could 
harm  than  help  a  Valois  king. 

The  dissensions  caused  by  the  Reformation 
gave  restless  nobles  a  last  chance  to  recover  their 
former  territorial  independence.  Many  of  those 
who  joined  the  Protestant  side  did  so  because  it 
gave  them  a  chance  to  fight  the  king  with  some 
decent  show  of  excuse.  The  king,  on  his  part, 
grew  tired  of  having  as  his  representatives  a  class 
of  men  whose  natural  promptings  and  ambitions 
stood  between  them  and  the  proper  discharge  of 
their  duties.  Accordingly,  during  the  wars  of  the 
League,  that  is  to  say,  in  the  period  from  1575- 
95,  one  finds  a  new  type  of  official  coming  into 
view.*  This  is  the  intendant,  a  person  who  has 
no  dignity  of  private  rank,  and  is  therefore  the 
less  likely  to  prove  a  traitor.  He  is  a  royal 
agent  and  nothing  else.  The  king  has  made  his 
fortunes  by  promoting  him  to  a  post  of  power, 
but  once  the  roval  favour  is  withdrawn,  the  inten- 
dant  has  no  vast  family  estates  or  pov/erful  con- 
nections to  fall  back  on.  Selfish  interest  binds 
him  to  the  crown,  just  as  selfish  interest  makes 
the  provincial  governor  his  king's  opponent. 

The  earliest  of  the  intendants  were  civiUans 
sent  by  Henry  HL,  the  last  of  the  Valois,  to  repre- 

*  speaking  exactly,  the  Catholic  Leagxie  in  France  was  not 
formed  till  1584. 


238  The  Intendant — Talon 

sent  him  in  the  army.  They  had  to  do  with  the 
payment  of  the  troops,  the  purchase  of  provisions, 
and  the  supervision  of  all  those  matters  in  which 
the  general  was  bound  to  consult  the  civil  author- 
ity. They  also  acted  as  a  check  upon  the  gen- 
eral, and  sent  reports  to  the  king  regarding  what- 
ever went  on.  Thus  several  ends  were  served  at 
the  same  time.  The  intendant  was  a  business 
man  charged  with  the  task  of  introducing  busi- 
ness methods  into  the  field  of  army  expenditure. 
He  was  also  the  king's  agent,  with  a  roving 
commission  to  report  on  anything  that  affected 
the  royal  interest.  Under  Richelieu  this  system 
received  a  great  extension,  and  from  his  day  until 
the  Revolution  France  was  ruled  by  a  body  of 
intendants  which  numbered,  at  different  times, 
from  thirty  to  forty.  To  be  sure  the  king,  in 
conjunction  with  his  prime  minister,  shaped  the 
main  lines  of  public  policy,  but  the  whole  task 
of  executing  details  was  thrown  upon  the  shoulders 
of  the  intendants.  As  Rambaud  has  well  said, 
"it  was  through  the  intendants  that  the  monarchy 
accomplished  all  the  good  and  all  the  evil  which 
it  wrought  in  France  during  a  hundred  and  fifty 
years  of  absolutism.  It  was  they  who  reduced 
to  complete  dependence  the  bishops,  the  leading 
nobles,  and  the  cities;  it  was  they  who  organised 
the  vast  armies,  the  vast  fleets  of  Louis  XIV., 
the  manufactures  of  Colbert."  Any  clear-sighted 
foreigner  travelling  through  France  in  the  eight- 
eenth century  could  see  how  completely  public 
business  was  vested  in  the  hands  of  the  intendants. 
For  example,  John  Law  said  in  so  many  words 


The  Intendant — Talon  239 

that  the  France  of  1720  was  ruled  by  thirty  inten- 
dants,  upon  whose  government  hung  the  happi- 
ness or  wretchedness  of  each  district;  its  poverty, 
or  its  abundance.  There  was  really  nothing  which 
could  not  be  brought  within  the  commission  given 
by  the  crown  to  an  intendant.  For  his  own 
special  district  he  controlled  the  administration  of 
justice,  the  payment  of  troops  and  sailors,  the 
system  of  agriculture,  the  construction  of  public 
works,  such  as  roads  and  canals,  the  government 
of  the  towns;  in  short,  everything.  It  would  be 
tedious  to  name  all  the  powers  of  the  intendant; 
it  would  be  impossible  to  find  any  large  national 
interest  with  which  he  was  not  connected.  In 
English  the  word  intendant  is  strange  to  us,  but 
we  are  all  familiar  with  superintendent — especially 
in  connection  with  Sunday-schools.  Had  there 
been  Sunday-schools  in  France  under  the  Old 
Regime,  this  official  would  doubtless  have  looked 
after  them  as  he  looked  after  everything  else. 

Such  were  the  powers  of  the  intendant  in 
France  at  the  time  when  Talon  came  to  Canada, 
and  it  was  the  design  of  Louis  XIV.  that  the  colony 
should  be  ruled  according  to  the  same  principles 
which  prevailed  at  home.  For  this  reason  we  have 
examined  the  steps  whereby  the  office  arose,  and 
made  itself  the  distinctive  feature  of  provincial 
government  in  France.  The  intendant  did  not 
come  to  Canada  like  a  Persian  satrap  or  like  a 
viceroy  of  the  Grand  Mogul,  who  had  full  free- 
dom of  action,  on  condition  that  he  supplied  his 
royal  master  with  so  much  money  and  so  many 
troops.     Louis  XIV.   was  careful  not   to   let   any 


240  The  Intendant — Talon 

of  his  representatives  grow  too  independent.  Still, 
within  the  terms  of  his  commission,  Talon  had 
wide  latitude  of  action.  The  king  told  him  in 
general  terms  to  build  up  industry,  to  make  the 
land  prosperous,  to  bring  up  the  people  in  the 
fear  of  God  and  reverence  for  the  royal  person. 
But  these  were  all  glittering  generalities.  Ever}^ 
thing  depended  on  how  the  agent  carried  out  his 
instructions.  Louis  XIV.  and  Colbert  knew  Talon, 
trusted  him  on  the  strength  of  his  record  in  France, 
and  were  intelligent  enough  to  leave  him  much 
freedom  in  the  choice  of  means. 

It  was,  nevertheless,  a  heavy  task  which  faced 
the  Great  Intendant  when  he  landed  at  Quebec 
in  1665.  The  population  of  the  colony  was  barely 
three  thousand.  The  Company  of  the  Hundred 
Associates  had  proved  a  complete  failure.  Its 
successor,  the  Company  of  the  West  Indies,  held 
a  monopoly  of  trade  which  was  crushing  the  lit- 
tle handful  of  settlers  in  the  valley  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence. Not  only  were  moose  and  beaver  skins 
to  be  bought  and  sold  by  the  Company  alone, 
but  all  imports  were  to  be  brought  out  in  its  ships, 
and  sold  at  its  prices.  Thus  there  were  hardly 
any  people  in  the  country,  and  these  few  found 
themselves  most  unpleasantly  situated  between 
the  Mohawks,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  monopo- 
lists of  trade,  on  the  other. 

Talon  perceived  at  once  that  the  crux  of 
the  matter  was  numbers.  The  king  was  send- 
ing over  the  Carignan  Regiment  to  fight  the 
Mohawks,  and  this  of  itself  was  much.  But 
once    in    the    country,    any    man    of    discernment 


The  Intendant — Talon  241 

could  see  that  Canada  held  out  homes  to  a  popu- 
lation larger  than  that  of  France.  In  all  the 
extensive  correspondence  which  Talon  conducted 
with  Colbert,  no  other  subject  bulks  so  large  as 
that  of  immigration.  And  Talon  was  the  more 
insistent  because  he  did  not  consider  this  ques- 
tion from  the  standpoint  of  the  Laurentian  valley 
alone.  He  had  a  prophetic  sense  of  what  would 
result  from  the  exploration  of  the  country  beyond 
Lake  Michigan  and  Lake  Superior.  More  than 
any  one  else  of  the  official  class — more  than  Fron- 
tenac  himself — he  was  the  pioneer  of  that  west- 
ward movement  which  was  carried  on  with  such 
brilliant  success  by  Joliet,  Marquette,  Du  Lhut, 
and  La  Salle.  The  copper  of  Lake  Superior  set 
him  to  thinking  about  the  mineral  wealth  of  this 
distant  region,  and  the  means  of  rendering  it 
available.  The  strategic  position  of  New  York 
caught  his  attention  and  opened  up  a  long  vista 
of  racial  projects,  racial  ambitions,  national  wealth. 
But  how,  without  men,  could  New  York  be  purged 
of  the  EngUsh  and  a  French  Empire  be  created 
in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi?  Every  one  of 
Talon's  broader,  more  statesmanlike  plans  hinged 
upon  the  question  of  population.  Clearly  the 
valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  could  spare  few  of  its 
three  thousand  settlers  to  the  Far  West.  In  1665, 
at  the  moment  when  Talon  reached .  Quebec,  the 
Iroquois  peril  was  so  great  that  beyond  the  island 
of  Montreal  no  genuine  colonisation  had  been 
attempted.  From  Lachine  to  Michillimackinac  a 
few  forts  dotted  the  waterways  at  strategic  points. 
But  these  were  mere  outposts  of  the  fur  traders. 


242  The  Intendant — Talon 

To  the  intendant's  mind  it  was  clear  that  without 
aid  from  the  king  the  French  in  America  could 
not  make  use  of  the  vast  areas  which  priority  of 
exploration  gave  them.  And  for  Talon,  aid  from  | 
the  king  meant,  first,  last,  and  always,  more  colo- 
nists. This  throughout  his  administration  was  the 
paramount  issue. 

During  the  first  ten  years  after  his  personal 
government  began,  Louis  XIV.  was  sincerely  in- 
terested in  Canada,  and  felt  himself  able  to  do 
something  for  this  most  desolate  portion  of  his 
dominions.  His  resources  had  not  yet  been 
drained  by  wars  of  ambition  in  Europe.  He  saw 
how  the  English  and  the  Dutch  were  profiting 
from  the  success  of  their  trading  companies. 
The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  was  being  created 
by  Prince  Rupert  at  the  very  time  of  Talon's 
regime  in  Canada.  There  were,  in  fact,  many 
motives  both  of  politics  and  commerce  which 
prompted  the  king  to  turn  his  eyes  toward  Quebec. 
The  substitution  of  the  West  Indies'  Company 
for  the  Company  of  the  Hundred  Associates  was 
one  sign  of  Louis'  personal  interest  in  the  col- 
ony. Another,  and  a  more  important  one,  was 
the  despatch  of  the  Carignan  Regiment — the  first 
body  of  regulars  ever  to  set  foot  in  New  France. 
The  mere  fact  that  so  good  a  man  as  Talon  was 
sent  to  reorganise  Canada  is  proof  positive  of  the 
royal  interest. 

None  the  less,  both  Louis  XIV.  and  Colbert 
failed  to  realise  how  completely  the  Canadian 
problem  hinged  upon  the  upbuilding  of  popula- 
tion.    It    is    true    that    they    put    forth    between 


The  Intendant — Talon  243 

1665  and  1675  the  most  serious  effort  which  the 
French  crown  ever  made  to  estabhsh  the  French 
race  in  the  New  World.  Yet  their  efforts,  in 
this  direction,  were  pitiful  when  compared  with 
Talon's  demands.  So  much  depends  on  how  the 
case  is  stated.  It  seems  very  grand  to  say  that 
during  the  seven  years  of  Talon's  intendancy, 
the  population  of  Canada  more  than  doubled. 
But  when  we  come  to  exact  figures  and  say  that 
the  number  of  inhabitants  increased  from  three 
thousand  to  seven  thousand,  the  proposition  is 
less  imposing.  No  doubt  Louis  XIV.  thought  he 
was  doing  a  great  deal  in  loaning  one  regiment 
to  Canada  for  a  single  campaign  against  the 
Mohawks,  and  in  giving  the  country  four  thou- 
sand new  colonists.  But  we  have  only  to  read 
Talon's  correspondence  with  Colbert,  to  realise 
how  utterly  inadequate  was  this  provision. 

In  almost  every  letter  there  is  a  direct  reference, 
or  an  indirect  allusion,  to  the  one  matter  upon 
which  all  else  depended.  It  is  not  poUte  to  be  in- 
sistent, and  Talon  could  not  importune  his  sover- 
eign, or  that  sovereign's  prime  minister,  without  a 
certain  regard  to  what  these  great  people  would 
stand.  If  one  is  looking  for  amusement  in  senous 
official  correspondence,  it  occasionally  can  be  found. 
"Even  in  a  palace,"  said  Marcus  Aurehus,  "Ufe 
may  be  well  spent."  Likewise  even  in  a  blue 
book  there  is  sometimes  a  glint  of  humour.  For 
example,  Canning's  celebrated  lines, 

"In  matters  of  business  the  fault  of  the  Dutch 
Is  giving  too  little  and  asking  too  much." 


244  '^^^  Intendant — Talon 

occur  in  an  official  despatch  to  the  British  Ambas- 
sador at  the  Hague  on  a  treaty  with  Holland. 
As  for  Talon,  the  element  of  humour  in  his  formal 
and  decorous  correspondence  with  Colbert  is  sup- 
plied by  the  skilfulness  of  his  hints  regarding  the 
overwhelming  need  of  more  colonists.  At  first 
Colbert  is  sympathetic,  then  he  begins  to  point 
out  the  difficulties  which  prevent  him  from  send- 
ing as  many  people  as  Talon  wants,  then  he  becomes 
a  httle  curt  when  reference  is  made  to  emigration, 
and  finally  he  blurts  out  that  he  has  no  intention 
of  depopulating  France  to  people  Canada.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  the  population  of  France 
was  about  20,000,000.  Had  Colbert  sent  Talon 
fifty  thousand  men  and  women,  the  drain  on  the 
mother  country  would  have  been  only  a  quarter  of 
one  per  cent.  What  the  influx  of  fifty  thousand 
French  at  that  date  would  have  meant  to  North 
America  can  be  made  out  by  a  little  computation. 
The  contest  of  French  and  English  would  have 
proved  far  more  stubborn,  far  more  uncertain  in  its 
issue,  and  even  had  the  French  been  vanquished, 
there  easily  might  be  to-day  on  the  North  Ameri- 
can continent  a  French  population  of  20,000,000. 
There  is  an  old  Latin  saying  that  a  question  well 
put  is  half  answered.  Talon  not  only  stated  to 
Colbert  the  problems  of  French  life  in  Canada 
under  their  proper  form,  but  he  suggested  the 
answer.  It  was  no  fault  of  his  that  Louis  XIV. 
cared  more  for  ten  thousand  square  miles  on  the 
banks  of  the  Rhine  than  for  three  million  square 
miles  in  America. 

With    all    the    restrictions    which    were    placed 


The  Intendant — Talon  245 

upon  the  Great  Intendant,  his  part  in  bringing 
out  settlers  has  supplied  the  historians  of  Canada 
with  one  of  their  favourite  subjects.  The  dearth 
of  the  feminine  element  in  a  new  country  is  almost 
always  noticeable,  and  in  New  France  special 
measures  were  required  to  redress  the  disparity 
of  sexes.  Every  one  has  heard  of  the  solicitude 
which  Louis  XIV.  felt  for  the  bachelors  of  Canada, 
and  is  more  or  less  familiar  wdth  the  expedients 
he  employed  to  rescue  them  from  their  solitude. 
Especially  after  the  Carignan  Regiment  had  dis- 
banded, there  seemed  to  be  need  of  sending 
to  Quebec,  year  by  year,  a  convoy  of  marriageable 
damsels.  A  good  many  of  the  intendant's  duties 
have  already  been  enumerated,  but  none  was  more 
delicate  than  that  of  finding  suitable  husbands 
for  the  iilles  du  rot.  How  matters  were  expedited 
may  be  inferred  from  a  letter  written  by  Talon 
to  Colbert  on  November  10,  1670.  "Of  all  the 
hundred  and  sixty-five  young  women  who  came 
to  the  colony  this  year,  only  thirty  remain  unmar- 
ried. As  soon  as  the  soldiers  who  came  out  this 
season  shall  have  had  time  to  build  houses,  they, 
too,  will  be  looking  around  for  wives;  for  which 
reason  I  hope  His  Majesty  may  be  pleased  to  send 
a  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  more  young 
women."  In  his  zeal  for  the  colony.  Talon  takes 
care  to  recommend  that  all  women  sent  over 
under  royal  auspices  shall  have  good  looks — or 
at  least  that  they  shall  not  be  displeasing  in  appear- 
ance. His  other  specifications  are  that  they  shall 
be  healthy  and  strong  enough  for  work  in  the 
fields,  or,  at  the  very  least,  that  they  shall  have 


246  The  Intendant — Talon 

some  aptitude  for  manual  labour.  In  other  words 
it  is  clear  that  he  has  in  view  healthy  peasant 
women,  rather  than  girls  who  have  been  bred  in 
cities  and  possess  no  aptitude  for  coping  with  the 
toils  of  the  wilderness.  The  wonderful  vigour 
and  vitality  of  the  French-Canadian  race  prove 
that  he  was  successful  in  getting  colonists  of  the 
type  he  desired. 

One  lays  most  stress  upon  Talon's  endeavour 
to  secure  immigrants,  because,  for  the  reasons 
mentioned,  it  was  the  central  fact  in  his  poUcy. 
It  remains  to  give  some  idea  of  the  activities  which 
marked  his  administration  of  Canada  at  a  time 
when  the  colony  was  aglow  with  hope,  beUeving, 
as  it  did,  that  the  king  meant  to  do  great  things 
for  it.  There  could  have  been  no  better  advance 
agent  of  prosperity  than  Talon.  By  the  terms 
of  his  original  arrangement  with  the  crown,  he  was 
to  be  away  from  France  only  two  or  three  years. 
The  king  evidently  felt  that  he  was  asking  a  clever 
man  to  bury  himself  for  a  time  in  a  region  where 
there  would  be  much  privation  and  little  reward. 
Englishmen  going  to  India  have  always  expected 
high  pay  and  short  terms  of  service.  In  the  sev- 
enteenth century,  Canada  inspired  much  the  same 
sentiment  among  Frenchmen.  As  it  was  asking 
much  of  Talon  to  absent  himself  from  the  sphere 
where  promotion  was  most  rapid,  he  had  promise 
of  a  quick  recall.  Two  facts,  however,  are  con- 
spicuous. Talon  remained  nearly  three  times  as 
long  in  the  country  as  had  first  been  planned; 
and,  secondly,  he  threw  himself  heart  and  soul 
into  its  life,  as  one  might  do  who  expected  to  make 


The  Intendant — Talon  247 

the  New  World  his  permanent  home.  There  is 
more  in  his  desire  to  help  Canada  than  profes- 
sional zeal.  It  is  true  that  the  spirit  of  the  ser- 
vice was  strong  among  the  intendants,  and  great 
reputations  might  be  gained  from  success  in  the 
discharge  of  their  office.  Thus  Turgot,  the  most 
eminent  of  French  statesmen  on  the  eve  of  the 
Revolution,  first  attracted  notice  from  the  way  in 
which  he  improved  the  district  of  Limoges  by 
enlightened  government.  Shortly  afterwards  he 
became  chief  adviser  to  Louis  XVI.  Talon,  like 
Turgot,  had  a  strong  sense  of  professional  duty 
and  a  desire  to  gain  advancement  in  the  king's 
service.  But  the  whole  tenour  of  his  acts  shows 
that  he  felt  a  deep  personal  interest  in  Canadian 
affairs.  Let  us  now  follow  him  in  his  attempt  to 
make  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  fertile,  pros- 
perous, and  happy. 

Talon,  like  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  before  him, 
and  Mr.  J.  J.  Hill  in  our  own  time,  saw  that  good 
agriculture  is  the  firm  foundation  of  national 
wealth.  Most  writers  have  associated  his  name 
with  the  attempt  to  develop  manufactures,  rather 
than  stimulate  and  improve  the  culture  of  the 
soil.  The  fact  is,  he  encouraged  both  interests 
in  due  proportion.  Not  only  were  his  first  efforts 
associated  with  farming,  but  he  never  suffered 
his  subsequent  interest  in  commerce,  shipbuild- 
ing, mines,  and  manufactures  to  ecUpse  his  desire 
that  there  should  be  two  blades  of  grass  where 
one  had  been  before.  Here,  as  everywhere  else, 
he  believed  it  right  to  set  an  example  of  activity. 
Hence  we  find  him   acquiring   the   uncleared  sei- 


248  The  Intendant — Talon 

gniory  of  des  Islets  near  Quebec,  in  order  to  show 
by  an  object  lesson  how  the  wilderness  could  be 
turned  into  meadow  and  pasture.  In  writing 
Colbert  on  the  subject  of  this  private  venture, 
he  says  that  only  two  arpents  out  of  a  large  estate 
were  cleared  at  the  time  he  bought  the  land.  In 
the  vicinity  of  Quebec  he  also  founded  his  three 
model  villages  of  Bourg  Royal,  Bourg  la  Reine, 
and  Bourg  Talon.  Here  it  was  a  question  of 
combining  agriculture  with  something  else.  All 
the  villagers  in  these  three  settlements  worked 
on  the  land,  but  for  society  and  defence  against 
the  Indians  it  was  well  that  they  should  be 
gathered  together  in  little  hamlets,  rather  than 
scattered  singly  through  clearings  in  the  forest. 
Thanks  to  the  success  of  Tracy's  campaign  against 
the  Iroquois,  farm  life  for  a  time  became  secure. 
Indeed,  the  twenty  years  of  peace  with  thfe 
Mohawks,  which  followed  this  war  of  1665,  saw 
a  transformation  in  the  physical  aspect  of  New 
France.  As  early  as  1668,  Father  Le  Mercier, 
writing  in  the  Jesuit  Relations,  bursts  into  a  paean 
over  the  change  which  has  been  wrought  by  the 
increased  security,  and  the  consequent  labours 
of  the  people  upon  their  land.  During  almost 
the  whole  of  the  period  between  Champlain  and 
Talon,  Canada  had  been  unable  to  produce  its 
own  food,  or  all  of  its  own  food.  Talon  resolved 
that  not  only  should  food  staples  be  produced 
within  the  country  on  a  scale  large  enough  to 
make  it  self-supporting,  but  that  there  should 
be  wheat  and  flour  for  export.  This  hope  might 
have    seemed    chimerical    at    the    time    when    he 


The  Intendant — Talon  249 

arrived  in  the  colony,  but  before  his  departure 
Canada  was  actually  shipping  wheat  to  France. 
It  cannot  be  pretended  that  the  export  trade  was 
very  large,  but  the  stage  of  helpless  dependence 
had  been  outgrown.  Closely  connected  with  agri- 
cultural improvement  is  the  enlargement  of  the 
acreage  available  for  cultivation.  During  the  seven 
years  of  Talon's  regime  the  area  of  cleared  land 
increased  twofold. 

We  speak  very  often,  and  Hghtly  enough,  about 
the  progress  of  the  world,  the  progress  of  civilisa- 
tion, and  other  forms  of  progress;  but  I  doubt 
whether  many  of  us  have  sought  to  define  for 
ourselves  wherein  progress  consists.  Herbert 
Spencer  tried  to  elucidate  this  problem  by  stat- 
ing that  progress  means  advance  from  the  homo- 
geneous to  the  heterogeneous,  from  the  simple 
to  the  complex.  Those  who  have  warm  humani- 
tarian instincts  and  long  for  the  coming  of  the 
Golden  Age  may  think  this  a  somewhat  frigid 
definition.  But  Talon,  for  one,  would  have  under- 
stood its  bearing  upon  the  development  of  Can- 
ada. He  believed  in  diversified  activity.  The  fur 
trade  was  not  enough.  Even  agriculture  was  not 
enough.  He  longed  to  find  occupation  which 
would  train  the  hand  and  occupy  the  mind,  dur- 
ing the  long  months  of  a  rigorous  winter.  With 
this  design  he  turned  his  attention  to  shipbuild- 
ing. The  very  year  after  his  arrival  he  caused 
a  schooner  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  tons  to  be 
built,  and  before  the  close  of  1667  he  writes  Col- 
bert that  he  is  urging  some  of  the  leading  mer- 
chants to  join  with  the  government  in  building  a 


250  The  Intendant — Talon 

ship  of  three  or  four  hundred  tons,  which  shall  be 
equipped  for  trade  with  the  West  Indies.  Talon's 
lively  imagination  was  impressed  from  the  out- 
set by  the  possibilities  of  trade  with  the  Antilles, 
Salt  fish,  grain,  and  lumber  were  to  be  exported, 
and  molasses  or  sugar  brought  back.  In  most 
cases  the  traders  of  New  France  threw  the  burden 
of  industrial  development  upon  the  shoulders  of 
the  government,  but  Talon  met  with  considerable 
success  in  his  attempt  to  enUst  capital  for  ship- 
building from  private  individuals.  It  is  a  notable 
fact  that  the  intendant,  active  though  he  was  and 
brimful  of  interests,  did  not  rush  inconsequently 
from  one  project  to  another.  To  take  this  case 
of  shipbuilding  alone,  it  remained  until  the  last 
an  object  of  his  untiring  care.  The  year  before 
he  left  Canada  he  wrote  Colbert  that  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men  were  engaged  in  this  persuit 
alone — and  this  at  a  time  when  the  total  popu- 
lation was  under  seven  thousand.  Besides  trade 
with  the  West  Indies,  he  kept  in  view  the  need  of 
developing  fisheries  on  the  lower  St.  Lawrence, 
not  only  for  cod  and  salmon,  but  for  porpoises  and 
seals.  Fish  oil  was  one  large  item  among  his 
exports,  and  he  did  much  to  convince  the  people 
of  Quebec  that  they  could  draw  steady  profit 
by  exploiting  the  waters  of  the  great  river  on  a 
much  larger  scale  than  had  been  attempted  before 
he  came. 

Among  the  manufactures  which  Talon  set  on 
foot  were  flour  mills,  and  a  rather  celebrated 
brewery.  The  need  for  flour  mills  requires  no 
comment,  but   the  subject   of  the   brewery  opens 


The  Intendant — Talon  251 

up  a  large  and  fertile  field  of  discussion.  Even 
the  Puritans  did  not  shrink  from  the  use  of  rum, 
and  brandy  made  its  way  to  the  St.  Lawrence  as 
early  as  the  first  of  the  French  traders  began  to 
bargain  with  the  Indians.  Brandy  is  not  a  liquid 
about  which  one  cares  to  make  any  universal 
statement,  but  in  the  seventeenth  century  man- 
kind seems  not  to  have  been  able  to  take  it  in 
large  quantities  without  damage.  How  it  affected 
the  Indians  can  be  realised  only  by  those  who 
have  followed  step  by  step  their  diminution  in 
numbers.  The  missionaries  were  perhaps  the 
most  pronounced  enemies  of  the  brandy  trade, 
but  their  strong  sentiment  against  eau  de  vie 
was  shared  by  the  parish  clergy.  The  Church 
attacked  the  sale  of  brandy  to  the  Indians  on 
obvious  grounds  of  Christian  duty.  Where  it 
could  it  also  prevented  the  habitants  from  becom- 
ing heavy  drinkers.  Any  one  entering  for  the 
first  time  in  1665  could  see  at  a  glance  how  large 
an  issue  this  was,  in  its  relation  to  both  the  colo- 
nist and  the  savage.  Talon,  with  his  acute  intel- 
ligence, recognised  its  true  importance,  and  with 
his  usual  promptness  took  such  action  as  com- 
mended itself  to  his  judgment.  When  he  first 
broached  to  Colbert  his  plan  of  starting  a  brewery, 
he  estimated  that  the  Canadians  were  spending 
a  hundred  thousand  livres  a  year  on  expensive 
and  potent  drinks  like  wine  and  brandy.  Always 
alert  to  see  how  the  colony  could  make  or  save 
money,  he  protested  against  the  expenditure  of 
this  large  sum  on  beverages  which  could  not  be 
produced    in    the    country.     More    striking    than 


252  The  Intendant — Talon 

any  single  sentence  in  Talon's  application  to  Col- 
bert for  his  sanction,  is  a  portion  of  the  minister's 
reply.  Colbert  grasps  at  once  both  points,  the 
moral  and  the  economic.  He  also  seems  to  have 
been  impressed  by  the  fact  that  the  erection  of 
a  brewery  would  prevent  scandal.  "Henceforth," 
says  Colbert,  "we  may  expect  that  the  vice  of 
drunkenness  will  cause  us  no  more  reproach,  by  rea- 
son of  the  cold  nature  of  beer,  the  vapours  whereof 
rarely  deprive  men  of  the  use  of  judgment." 

In  trying  to  connect  past  with  present,  one 
may  perhaps  claim  that  Talon  was  the  pioneer 
of  both  the  Geological  Survey  and  the  Intercolonial 
Railway.  He  planned  the  construction  of  a  road 
from  Quebec  to  Acadia,  and  made  a  small  begin- 
ning at  it,  though  his  resources  were  wholly  inade- 
quate to  the  task.  His  interest  in  western  explo- 
ration has  been  mentioned  already,  and  it  should 
be  added  that  he  planned. the  journey  of  Father 
Albanel  to  Hudson's  Bay.  His  interest  in  the 
mineral  wealth  of  Canada  is  evident  from  many 
facts.  He  investigated  the  iron  deposits  of  Baie 
St.  Paul  and  the  bog  ores  of  the  St.  Maurice.  The 
copper  of  Lake  Superior  seemed  to  him  a  valuable 
asset  of  that  western  empire  which  he  desired 
France  to  occupy,  and  he  had  hope  that  silver 
mines  might  be  opened  up  at  Gasp^  Basin.  In 
the  end  smelting  operations  proved  too  costly, 
but  Talon  used  every  means  to  lay  bare  the 
resources  of  a  country  in  whose  future  he  thor- 
oughly believed. 

The  catalogue  of  the  Intendant's  acts  is  by  no 
means   exhausted,   but   we   have   seen   the   nature 


The  Intendant — Talon  253 

of  that  energy  and  enthusiasm  which  in  less  than 
a  decade  gave  Canada  hope  of  becoming  some- 
thing more  than  a  depot  of  beaver  skins.  Among 
other  things  which  Talon  did  for  the  people  under 
his  charge,  were  these.  He  introduced  the  cul- 
ture of  hemp  and  flax,  and  persuaded  the  king 
to  send  him  wool  from  which  cloth  was  made 
by  the  wives  of  the  habitants.  He  opened  a  tan- 
nery and  a  shoe  factory.  It  cannot  quite  be  said 
that  he  began  the  manufacture  of  soap,  but  he 
induced  a  Sieur  Folin  to  undertake  the  estab- 
ment  of  this  industry.  Here  Canada  is  not  very 
far  behind  a  much  older  country.  Until  1619  the 
demand  for  soap  in  Scotland  was  apparently  so 
small  that  it  could  be  quite  well  supplied  by  impor- 
tations from  Flanders.  The  first  soap  factory, 
north  of  the  Tweed,  was  established  at  Leith  dur- 
ing the  reign  of  James  I.  and  VI. 

In  considering  Talon's  career  we  must  not  forget 
that  the  greater  part  of  his  time  was  consumed  by 
routine  duties  of  administration.  The  intendant  was 
the  moving  spirit  in  the  Sovereign  Council,  which 
had  under  its  control  the  whole  public  life  of  the 
colony.  For  one  thing,  the  Council  could  fix  the 
percentage  of  profit  on  merchandise,  and  even 
establish  a  maximum  price  for  special  articles. 
Just  before  Talon's  arrival  in  Canada,  merchants 
had  been  allowed  by  the  Council  a  profit  of  55  % 
on  their  dry  goods,  of  100  %  on  the  more  expensive 
spirits,  and  120%  on  Uquors  that  were  imported 
in  the  cask.  In  1666,  by  way  of  modification,  the 
price  of  claret  per  cask  was  placed  at  eighty  livres, 
and  the  price  of  Brazilian  tobacco  per  pound  at 


2  54  The  Intendant — Talon 

forty  sous.  In  fact,  every  few  months  the  Coun- 
cil was  likely  to  change  its  regulations  according 
to  the  rise  and  fall  of  prices  in  Europe.  Natu- 
rally, the  importers  resented  such  attempts  to  cur- 
tail their  profits,  and  little  good  resulted  from 
this  incessant  interference.  However,  it  was  a  part 
of  the  French  colonial  system,  and  no  inten- 
dant could  avoid  giving  much  of  his  time  to  the 
details  of  such  work.  Talon  was  far  from  being 
an  expert  in  matters  of  political  economy.  He 
was  no  Quesnay,  with  radical  views  regarding 
the  folly  of  state  interference.  He  simply  accepted 
the  system  in  vogue  and  made  the  best 
of  it.  Besides  supervising  the  merchants,  the 
Sovereign  Council  undertook  to  superintend  the 
morals  of  the  colony.  It  sat  in  trial  upon  crimi- 
nal cases,  as  well  as  civil.  It  decreed  what 
public  works  should  be  undertaken,  and  how  they 
should  be  conducted.  Governor,  bishop,  and  com- 
mander of  troops, — if  there  was  a  special  general 
of  regulars  in  the  country, — all  had  seats  in  the 
Sovereign  Council.  But  this  board  was  the  inten- 
dant's  playground.  Save  at  times  of  crisis  when 
some  litigation  arose  between  Church  and  State, 
his  views  were  not  likely  to  be  opposed  by  any 
one.  Naturally,  the  details  of  all  this  business, 
much  of  which  seems  very  petty  now,  were  a  severe 
drain  upon  the  energies  of  the  official  who  was 
responsible  to  the  king  for  the  every-day  concerns 
of  the  colony.  How  much  business  was  trans- 
acted by  the  Sovereign  Council,  those  only  can 
appreciate  who  have  worked  among  its  volumi- 
nous records. 


The  Intendant — Talon  255 

Another  large  item  in  Talon's  routine  was  his 
correspondence  with  the  home  authorities.  Gov- 
ernor and  intendant  were  both  expected  to  keep 
the  king  supplied  with  full  information  regard- 
ing what  went  on  in  Canada.  Often  they  were 
jealous  of  each  other,  and  then  their  recrimina- 
tions filled  page  after  page  in  each  despatch.  Even 
when  on  good  terms  there  was  a  good  deal  which 
each  was  expected  to  say  about  the  other,  for 
Louis  XIV.  exacted  minute  accounts  of  the  way 
in  which  each  official  was  discharging  his  duties. 
The  governor  was  expected  to  let  the  king  know 
whether  or  not  the  intendant  was  successful,  and 
vice  versa.  The  Archives  of  the  Marine  at  Paris 
are  filled  with  these  despatches,  and  we  can  still 
trace  therein  the  daily  concerns  of  Quebec  as  they 
appealed  to  the  mind  of  both  intendant  and  gov- 
ernor. 

Hence  Talon  was  a  busy  man.  If  this  be 
doubted,  let  the  reader  glance  at  a  passage  from 
the  terms  of  his  commission.  "Since  nothing 
can  better  encourage  the  people  to  be  industrious 
than  entering  into  the  details  of  their  households 
and  of  all  their  little  affairs,  it  will  not  be  amiss 
that  Sieur  Talon  visit  all  their  settlements,  one 
by  one,  in  order  to  learn  their  true  condition,  pro- 
vide as  much  as  possible  for  their  wants,  and, 
performing  the  duty  of  a  good  head  of  a  family, 
put  them  in  the  way  of  making  a  profit."  Talon 
took  up  this  part  of  his  work  in  the  most  Uteral 
sense.  His  domiciliary  rounds  have  been  noticed 
by  more  than  one  writer  of  that  time,  with  much 
detail.     Perhaps    the    most    striking    account    of 


256  The  Intendant — Talon 

them  can  be  found  in  the  pages  of  DoUier  de  Cas- 
son,  who  describes  the  incessant  activity  of  the 
Intendant  during  his  visit  to  Montreal  in  1667. 
"At  this  time,"  says  Dollier,  "he  made  the  entire 
circuit  of  the  island,  house  by  house,  in  order  to 
see  if  all,  down  to  the  very  poorest,  were  being 
treated  \\ith  justice  and  equity,  and  to  discover 
for  himself  whether  there  were  not  some  whose 
necessities  demanded  a  share  of  his  alms  and 
liberality." 

These  things  Talon  did  in  Canada  during  his 
two  terms  of  office  which  covered  the  years  1665- 
72.  What,  in  conclusion,  are  we  to  think  of  the 
man,  of  his  works,  and  of  the  system  which  he 
represented  on  the  American  continent?  As  for 
the  spirit  in  which  Talon  discharged  his  public 
services,  it  is  wholly  admirable.  He  was  the  model 
intendant  —  alert,  inteUigent,  resourceful,  just. 
A  mood  of  optimism  suggested  his  more  impor- 
tant undertakings,  and  had  the  king  followed 
his  advice  in  the  matter  of  colonisation,  France 
would  have  strengthened  vastly  her  hold  upon 
America.  The  virtues  of  Talon,  however,  set  off  in 
high  reUef  the  faults  of  the  French  colonial  sys- 
tem. Had  an  English  king,  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  asked  the  people  of 
Virginia  or  Massachusetts  how  he  could  best  help 
them,  they  probably  would  have  replied:  "Leave 
us  alone,  forget  that  we  exist,  and  we  shall  get 
along  very  well."  There  need  not  have  been  in 
these  words  any  hint  of  political  alienation.  The 
English  colonist  simply  felt  that  he  could  look 
after  his  own  affairs  much  better  than  any  home 


The  Intendant — Talon  257 

government  (especially  than  any  home  govern- 
ment in  the  seventeenth  century)  could  look 
after  them  for  him.  At  this  time  of  day,  the 
benefits  of  private  initiative  are  well  recognised 
on  every  hand.  Self-help,  made  famous  by  Dr. 
Samuel  Smiles,  has  been  naturalised  in  almost 
all  the  languages  of  Europe — mostly  under  the 
form  of  Selfelp.  If  one  goes  back  far  enough, 
it  will  be  found  that  the  Roman  Empire  did  much 
to  prepare  its  decline  and  fall,  by  interfering  and 
intermeddling  with  the  common  man.  Mankind 
used  to  think  that  the  State  could  do  everything. 
There  are  certainly  some  things  which  the  State 
can  do  better  than  private  individuals  or  corpora- 
tions, but  that  it  cannot  do  everything,  the  merest 
tyro  in  matters  of  public  policy  now  knows.  New 
France  suffered  disastrously  from  the  ignorance 
or  the  prepossessions,  on  this  subject,  of  the  home 
government.  At  the  best,  the  intendant,  how- 
ever much  he  may  have  started  of  his  own  intel- 
ligent forethought,  checked  private  enterprise.  At 
the  worst,  he  was  a  pedantic  or  dishonest  med- 
dler whose  petty  spirit  or  greed  of  gain  might  lay 
a  blight  upon  the  whole  commerce  of  the  country. 
What  Canada  could  suffer  from  the  intendant 
was  seen  in  the  time  of  Bigot.  But  take  things 
at  the  best,  that  is,  under  Colbert  and  Talon. 
The  curse  of  their  policy  was  to  encourage  the 
belief  that  government  could,  and  would,  do 
everything  for  the  people.  Sometimes  one  ob- 
serves an  intelligent,  conscientious  government  try- 
ing to  help  forward  a  sluggish,  indifferent  nation. 
Spain,  for  example,  under  Charles  III.  was  ruled 


258  The  Intendant — Talon 

by  a  king  who  made  a  great  number  of  improve- 
ments. Taxes  were  reduced,  public  works  under- 
taken, prisons  reformed,  a  regime  of  honesty  sub- 
stituted for  one  of  peculation.  At  the  moment, 
no  country  in  Europe  seemed  to  be  making  such 
rapid  progress.  Presently,  however,  the  king  died, 
and  things  were  worse  than  before.  No  response 
had  been  eUcited  from  the  nation,  and  without 
national  co-operation  every  government  must  fail 
to  achieve  results  of  lasting  value. 

At  times  the  loyalty  and  discipUne  of  the 
French  in  Canada,  under  the  Old  Regime,  fur- 
nish an  edifying  contrast  to  the  eager,  self-seeking, 
mutinous  restlessness  of  the  English  colonists  to 
the  south  of  them.  But  the  English,  when  it 
came  to  the  eighteenth  century,  were  going  ahead 
by  bounds,  while  Canada  under  its  intendant  was 
standing  still.  We  must  not  minimise  the  phys- 
ical advantages  which  the  English  possessed  dur- 
ing the  half  century  which  preceded  the  age  of 
Montcalm  and  Wolfe.  But  they  had  an  outlook 
which  helped  them  in  national  competition  eve  1 
more  than  the  fortuitous  advantages  that  wer^ 
given  them  by  nature.  An  official  like  the  inten- 
dant of  New  France,  they  would  have  thrown 
out  of  the  window,  and  from  a  sense  of  their  self- 
interest,  rightly  so.  It  would  have  been  a  pity 
to  see  the  excellent  Talon  thus  treated,  but  he 
was  identified  with  a  cramping,  retarding  system. 
That  system,  the  product  of  the  French  trend 
towards  absolutism,  was  artificially  transplanted 
to  the  New  World  where  the  natural  conditions 
all    met    it    with    open    defiance.      The   mood    of 


The  Intendant — Talon  259 

political  self-assertiveness  can  be  carried  too  far, 
but  something  of  it  is  needed  by  a  race  that  would 
undertake  the  development  of  the  American  con- 
tinent. And  while  the  Conquest  meant  momen- 
tary bitterness  to  New  France,  her  people  had 
much  solid  profit  to  derive  by  their  emancipation 
from  a  regime  of  which  the  Intendant  was  the 
most  conspicuous  type. 


CHAPTER  Vm 
THE  BISHOP— LAVAL 

THE  one  motive  which  pervades  the  life  of 
French  Canada  from  first  to  last  is  its  alle- 
giance to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  In  politics 
there  is  no  such  unity.  Prior  to  the  Cession  the 
political  allegiance  of  the  French  Canadian  was 
claimed  by  the  French  crown.  Since  the  Ces- 
sion it  has  been  claimed  by  the  British  crown. 
The  fortunes  of  war  have  worked  a  revolution 
in  the  political  development  of  French  Canada. 
But  in  the  sphere  of  religion,  what  was  under  the 
Old  Regime  is  now.  One  does  not  forget  that  a 
few  French  Canadians  have  become  Protestants. 
A  few  more,  perhaps,  have  become  sceptics  of  one 
kind  or  another.  But  in  both  cases  the  number 
of  deserters  from  the  Roman  Catholic  fold  is 
extremely  small.  All  the  distinctive  traditions 
of  French  Canada  are  associated  with  CathoHc 
faith.  The  Church,  looking  with  disfavour  upon 
mixed  marriages,  has  done  far  more  than  any 
other  agency  to  preserve  the  race  as  a  unit.  And 
this,  one  must  point  out,  it  has  been  able  to  do 
without  ever  having  a  quarrel  with  the  British 
government. 

To  see  how  important  in  Canada  has  been  the 

I  (So 


The  Bishop — Laval  261 

role  of  the  Catholic  Church,  let  us  take  as  a  stand- 
ard of  contrast  the  spectacle  which  is  furnished 
by  New  England.  We  often  speak  of  the  Eng- 
lish colonies  in  America  as  though  all  of  them  in 
the  seventeenth  century  accepted  the  ideals  of 
Puritanism.  But  in  point  of  fact  there  was  no 
such  unanimity.  The  Anglicans  were  dominant 
in  Virginia,  the  Puritans  in  Massachusetts,  the 
Catholics  in  Maryland,  the  Quakers  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. Most  singular  of  all,  the  constitution  which 
John  Locke  drew  up  for  the  Carolinas  provided 
that  any  group  of  seven  inhabitants  should  have 
absolute  freedom  of  conscience  and  worship.  Even 
in  New  England  proper,  where  the  Puritans  had 
their  chief  stronghold,  grave  divergences  of  belief 
were  not  slow  to  disclose  themselves.  Mrs.  Anne 
Hutchinson  in  Massachusetts  and  Roger  Williams 
in  Rhode  Island  were  both  active  schismatics 
who  carried  with  them  a  group  of  earnest,  deter- 
mined followers. 

Thus  from  the  outset  no  one  form  of  Christian 
faith  was  accepted  by  the  English  in  America. 
Still  less  can  it  be  said  that  a  single  religious  motive 
furnishes  unity  to  the  whole  life  of  the  English 
colonies  from  first  to  last.  Take,  for  example, 
the  religious  history  of  Massachusetts  during  the 
past  hundred  years.  The  first  half  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  witnessed  the  rise  of  Unitarianism 
which  rent  the  Congregational  or  Calvinistic 
church  in  twain.  The  second  half  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  was  marked  by  two  striking  changes: 
first,  the  rapid  advance  of  the  Episcopal  Church, 
gaining  adherents   from   both  the   Congregational- 


262  The  Bishop — Laval 

ists  and  the  Unitarians;  secondly,  the  transfor- 
mation of  Congregational  theology  as  attested  by 
the  Andover  lawsuit.  The  English  in  America 
have  gone  through  a  political  revolution  leading 
to  a  change  of  allegiance.  For  the  British  crown 
there  has  been  substituted  the  federal  authority 
of  the  United  States.  And  at  the  same  time  it 
is  impossible  to  find  any  one  ecclesiastical  bond 
which  unites  past  and  present,  as  past  and  pres- 
ent are  united  in  French  Canada  by  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  The  English  colonists  brought 
with  them  from  the  mother  land  several  different 
forms  of  religious  belief,  and  even  that  Calvinism 
which  in  the  days  of  Cotton  Mather  and  Jonathan 
Edwards  seemed  so  rigorous,  so  uncompromising, 
no  longer  exists. 

In  such  a  book  as  this,  one  is  not  called  upon 
to  express  any  theological  opinions  whatever. 
Was  the  Calvinism  of  the  seventeenth  century  a 
higher  form  of  faith  than  Catholicism?  Have  the 
French  of  Canada  done  ill  in  retaining  Catholi- 
cism? Have  the  English  of  Massachusetts  done 
well  in  dropping  Calvinism?  Questions  like  these 
do  not  concern  us  here.  But  in  order  to  appreciate 
the  practical  importance  of  the  subject  which  is 
now  before  us,  we  must  remember  that  since  the 
days  of  Champlain  the  Christianity  of  French 
Canada  has  been  unswervingly  Roman.  No  single 
dogma  has  been  cast  aside.  Not  once  has  the 
Canadian  branch  of  the  Latin  Church  hesitated 
in  devotion  to  its  head,  the  Pope.  J^ince  the 
time  when  the  bishopric  of  Quebec  was  estab- 
lished and  Laval  undertook  the  religious  organisa- 


The  Bishop — Laval  263 

tion  of  New  France,  there  has  been  on  the  banks 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  a  highly  centralised  eccle- 
siastical regime,  which  under  both  French  rule  and 
English  rule  must  be  called  the  central  fact  in 
the  life  of  the  French  Canadians.  ^ 

During  Champlain's  generation  and  for  twenty- 
five  years  after  his  death,  the  missionary  was  a 
more  conspicuous  figure  than  the  parish  priest. 
For  one  thing,  the  colonists  were  forced  to  seek 
religious  ministrations  in  large  part  from  the  mis- 
sionary orders,  and  even  where  independent  cures 
appear,  they  are  overshadowed  by  the  Jesuits.  An 
exception  to  this  statement  must  be  made  in  the 
case  of  Montreal,  for  there  the  priests  of  Saint 
Sulpice  reigned  supreme,  but  speaking  broadly  the 
early  years  of  the  Roman  Church  in  Canada  be- 
long to  the  RecoUet  and  the  Jesuit  rather  than 
to  the  parish  priest. 

The  heroism  and  earnestness  of  the  missionaries 
need  no  further  praise,  but  it  is  quite  clear  that 
in  the  long  run  the  spiritual  wants  of  the  colonists 
were  more  important  than  the  conversion  of  the 
savages.  The  number  of  Indians  who  made  sat- 
isfactory Christians  was  but  small,  while  as  the 
Aborigines  dwindled,  the  French  population  was 
increasing.  A  time,  therefore,  came  when  any 
one  could  see  that  the  interests  of  the  mission 
must  take  second  place.  This  date  may  be  fixed 
at  about  1672,  the  beginning  of  Frontenac's  first 
term  as  governor.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  in 
1672  every  Jesuit  missionary  would  have  admitted 
the  inferiority  of  the  mission  interest,  but  it  should 
have   been   possible   for   an   impartial   outsider   to 


264  The  Bishop — Laval 

see  by  then  how  much  more  good  the  Church 
could  do  among  the  colonists  than  among  the 
Indians.  There  was  no  deep-seated  reason  why 
missionaries  and  parish  priests  should  not  work 
together  in  amity,  each  cultivating  his  own  field. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  some  friction  did  arise,  owing 
to  divergence  of  view  regarding  the  importance 
of  the  mission.  But  at  present  we  are  not  con- 
cerned with  this  difference  of  opinion.  It  is 
enough  to  distinguish  two  periods  in  the  ecclesi- 
astical history  of  New  France.  From  the  time 
when  Champlain  first  brought  over  the  Recollets, 
until  the  coming  of  Frontenac,  missionary  enter- 
prise is  a  more  prominent  feature  in  colonial 
life  than  the  regular  work  of  the  parish  clergy 
among  their  parishioners.  After  1672  the  mis- 
sions, httle  by  little,  decline  while  the  routine 
work  of  the  parish  priests  among  their  own  people 
becomes  of  prime  importance. 

Before  taking  up  the  ecclesiastical  problems 
of  New  France,  it  will  be  well  to  consider  the  piety 
of  its  people  during  the  period  when  they  were 
few  and  struggling.  And  here  let  me  make  a 
distinction  which  seems  very  real  to  the  historian. 
Religion  is  one  thing,  and  the  Church  another. 
The  raison  d'etre  of  the  Church  is  religion,  but  as 
ecclesiastical  institutions  grow  comple.x  and  elab- 
orate, much  that  is  secular  becomes  connected 
with  them.  There  is  church  property  which  has 
to  be  administered.  There  are  rights  of  the  Church 
which  must  be  guarded  against  the  encroachments 
of  the  State.  In  a  large  variety  of  ways  the  Church 
becomes  immersed  in  business  that  seems  largely 

/ 


The  Bishop — Laval  265 

secular.  This  statement  does  not  apply  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  in  particular.  It  con- 
templates every  great  ecclesiastical  organisation 
— the  Greek  Church  and  the  leading  Protestant 
churches  as  well  as  the  Roman  Church.  From 
the  very  nature  of  things  certain  ecclesiastics 
must  devote  much  attention  to  matters  which 
have  little  effect  in  stimulating  their  religious 
sense. 

But  all  ecclesiastical  institutions  have  for  their 
point  of  departure  the  genuine  piety  of  individual 
men  and  women.  Hence,  before  taking  up  the 
organisation  of  the  Church  in  New  France,  we 
must  realise  that  the  people  of  the  colony  were, 
as  individual  men  and  women,  pious.  Naturally, 
one  can  discover  exceptions.  For  persons  of  a 
certain  habit  of  mind,  the  discovery  of  such  excep- 
tions is  always  an  agreeable  occupation.  In  Can- 
ada the  coiireur  de  hois  was  not  pious — far  from 
it.  After  the  coming  of  the  Carignan  Regiment, 
there  was  a  decline  in  the  standard  of  morals. 
The  Abbe  Faillon  devotes  a  whole  chapter  in  his 
Histoire  de  la  Colonic  Franfaise  to  the  bad 
example  set  by  both  officers  and  men,  tracing  to 
this  source  a  love  of  dissipation  unknown  before 
1665.  On  February  4,  1667,  the  officers  of  the 
Carignan  Regiment  gave  a  ball  at  Quebec — the  first 
ball  to  be  given  in  Canada  and  this  (observe)  was 
nearly  sixty  years  after  the  founding  of  the  colony. 
Worse  still,  drinking  at  saloons  grew  more  fre- 
quent. The  colonists  began  to  forget  their  orig- 
inal sense  of  brotherhood.  Some  of  them  tried 
to   estabhsh   a   "comer"    in   grain.     Weights    and 


266  The  Bishop — Laval 

measures  were  tampered  with  for  the  first  time. 
Even  at  Montreal,  where  an  attempt  had  been 
made  to  reproduce  the  life  of  the  primitive  Chris- 
tians, a  trial  for  theft  took  place  in  March  of  1670. 

Such  are  the  signs  of  change,  of  decadence, 
which  become  noticeable  after  a  worldly  element 
has  entered  the  colony  with  the  Carignan  Regi- 
ment. But  for  almost  sixty  years  from  its  foun- 
dation New  France  was  pervaded  by  a  spirit  of 
piety  that  finds  few  parallels  anywhere.  The  fur 
traders  and  the  bushrangers  might  be  pure  pagans, 
but  the  bona  fide  colonists,  like  Hebert,  Giffard, 
and  the  early  settlers  of  Montreal,  lived  sboys. 
reproach.  Champlain,  you  will  remember,  was 
confessedly  devout.  "Through  my  whole  hfe," 
he  wrote  when  an  old  man,  "I  have  faced  the 
perils  of  the  ocean,  with  the  hope  of  seeing  the 
Lily  of  France  able  to  protect  in  Canada  the  Holy 
Catholic  religion."  Maisonneuve  was  still  more 
devout  than  Champlain.  For  above  twenty- 
five  years  after  the  founding  of  Montreal  its  in- 
habitants had  no  keys  to  their  houses,  to  their 
cellars,  or  to  their  boxes.  When  they  took  their 
grain  to  the  mill  they  left  it  at  the  door,  never 
even  telling  the  miller  how  much  the  sacks  con- 
tained. We  have  already  seen  how '  high  were 
the  religious  standards  set  by  Olier  and  Dauver- 
sicre  in  their  original  application  to  the  Pope  for 
a  charter.  Beyond  doubt  the  founders  of  Ville- 
marie  exemplified  these  professions  of  religious 
faith  in  their  lives. 

The  early  piety  of  Quebec  is  reflected   in   the 
Journal  des  /('suites  and  the  letters  of  Marie  de 


The  Bishop — Laval  267 

r Incarnation;  that  of  Montreal,  in  the  letters 
of  Marguerite  Bourgeoys  and  the  History  of  Dol- 
lier  de  Casson.  How  boys  were  educated  in  Thr-ee 
Rivers  about  1660  can  be  seen  from  one  of  the 
two  letters  written  by  Frangois  Hertel  at  the 
time  of  his  captivity  among  the  Mohawks.  The 
letter  sent  by  Hertel  to  his  mother  was  mentioned 
in  the  last  chapter.  But  he  wrote  another,  also 
on  birch  bark,  to  one  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries. 
Father  Le  Moyne.  It  begins:  "My  Reverend 
Father:  The  very  day  when  you  left  Three  Rivers 
I  was  captured,  at  about  three  in  the  afternoon, 
by  three  Iroquois  of  the  Mohawk  tribe.  I  would 
not  have  been  taken  alive  if,  to  my  sorrow,  I  had 
not  feared  that  I  was  not  in  a  fit  state  to  die.  If 
you  came  here,  my  Father,  I  could  have  the  hap- 
piness of  confessing  to  you.  There  are  three  of 
us  Frenchmen  alive  here.  I  commend  myself  to 
your  good  prayers,  and  particularly  to  the  Holy 
Sacrifice  of  the  Mass.  I  pray  you,  Father,  to 
say  a  Mass  for  me.  I  pray  you  give  my  dutiful 
love  to  my  poor  mother,  and  console  her,  if  it 
pleases  you."  *  This  boy  of  eighteen  then  gives 
a  few  details  concerning  the  way  in  which  he  has 
been  tortured  by  the  Mohawks. 

If  piety  is  conspicuous  among  the  men,  it  is 
to  the  women  of  New  France  that  we  must  go 
for  the  brightest  examples  of  fervour  and  devo- 
tion. Mme.  de  la  Peltrie,  Marie  de  ITncarnation, 
and    Marie    de    St.   Bernard,    at    Quebec;    Jeanne 

*For  the  full  text  of  both  these  letters,  see  Parkman's  "Old 
Regime  in  Canada,"  p.  67,  or  the  originals  in  the  Jesuit  Rela- 
tions.    Ed.  Thwaites,  vol.  xlvii,  p.  83. 


268  The  Bishop — Laval 

Mance,  Marguerite  Bourgeoys,  and  Jeanne  Le  Ber, 
at  Montreal,  lived  the  other-worldly  life  with  an 
intensity  which  breathes  through  all  their  acts 
and  writings.  Hospital  work  and  teaching  were 
among  the  activities  of  the  nuns,  no  less  than 
personal  devotions.  At  times  mysticism  has  been 
able  to  take  the  individual  so  far  from  the  world 
as  to  break  all  social  bonds;  but  such  was  the 
need  of  real  workers  in  the  struggling  colony  of 
New  France  that  there  piety  assumed  an  active 
form.  From  the  Journal  des  /^suites  and  the 
letters  of  Mother  Marie  de  1' Incarnation  can  be 
made  out  with  photographic  clearness  the  nature 
of  the  duties  which  the  clergy  and  the  sisters 
assumed  at  Quebec.  From  the  same  sources,  also, 
we  get  a  perfect  reflex  of  the  devotion  which  the 
first  colonists  felt  for  the  Church.  In  the  upper 
circles  of  colonial  society  this  mood  is  illustrated 
to  perfection  by  the  Ufe  of  Mme.  D'Aillebout, 
who,  besides  being  the  wdfe  of  one  governor,  was 
sought  in  marriage  by  another,  De  Courcelle,  as 
well  as  by  Talon,  the  Great  Intendant.  In  Canada 
she  represents  the  same  type  of  religious  emo- 
tion which  in  France  one  associates  with  Mme. 
de  Guyon.  Not  only  did  she  carry  her  piety  to 
the  point  of  asceticism,  not  only  did  she  divide 
her  wealth  between  the  General  Hospital  and  the 
Hotel  Dieu,  but  she  was  said  to  be  endowed  with 
the  gift  of  prophecy  and  the  power  to  converse 
with  spirits. 

We  need  not  go  farther  in  seeking  to  under- 
stand the  hold  which  religion  had  upon  the  first 
colonists    of    New    France.     Prior    to    1663    this 


The  Bishop — Laval  269 

community,  never  numbering  above  two  thousand 
five  hundred  souls,  maintained  a  standard  of  aus- 
tere self-denial  that  comported  well  with  its  pro- 
fessions of  piety.  After  Louis  XIV.  and  Colbert 
began  to  build  up  the  colony  by  sending  it  troops 
and  shiploads  of  settlers,  the  laity  grew  less  relig- 
ious. There  was  no  sharp  reaction  against  religion 
— a  reaction  attended  by  atheism  and  profhgacy. 
But  it  proved  impossible  to  preserve  the  devout- 
ness  of  a  time  when  almost  every  colonist  was 
a  sincere,  sober-minded  Catholic.  French  Canada 
rernains,  till  this  day,  a  land  whose  loyalty  to 
the  Roman  Church  is  above  reproach,  or  suspicion. 
Yet  one  cannot  say  that  the  same  type  of  piety 
which  flourished  at  Quebec  in  the  da3''s  of  Paul 
Le  Jeune,  and  at  Montreal  in  the  days  of  Mai- 
sonneuve  and  Jeanne  Mance,  is  to  be  found  in 
the  colony  during  the  period  of  Frontenac. 

Passing  from  the  subject  of  individual  piety, 
let  us  now  take  up  the  organisation  of  the  Church 
in  Canada.  As  Huguenots  were  carefully  excluded, 
there  was  but  the  one  Church.  It  is  not  to  be 
supposed,  however,  that  because  the  feud  of  Prot- 
estant and  Catholic  was  avoided,  all  ecclesias- 
tical problems  and  troubles  were  absent.  The 
discords  which  arise  in  churches  over  questions 
of  policy  and  administration  are  less  acute  than 
those  arising  from  differences  of  religious  belief. 
At  the  same  time,  a  long  experience  shows  how 
grave  may  be  the  misunderstandings  which  spring 
up  among  members  of  the  same  communion. 
Strife  of  this  sort  the  Roman  CathoHc  Church 
in  Canada  did  not  escape. 


270  The  Bishop — Laval 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  the  middle  and 
latter  years  of  the  seventeenth  century,  two  seri- 
ous differences  distracted  the  Catholics  of  France. 
The  first  was  the  strife  between  Jesuits  and  Jan- 
senists;  the  second,  the  strife  between  Gallicans 
and  Ultramontanes.  It  would  be  beside  our  pres- 
ent purpose  to  discuss  either  of  these  controversies 
at  any  length.  The  quarrel  of  Jesuits  and  Jansen- 
ists  turned  in  part  upon  matters  of  doctrine,  inas- 
much as  the  Jesuits  detected  Calvinistic  heresy  in 
the  writings  of  Jansenius.  The  Jansenists  replied 
with  a  defence  of  their  orthodoxy  and  an  attack 
upon  the  morals  of  the  Jesuits.  Canada  was  not 
altogether  free  from  Jansenism.  The  works  of 
Arnauld  and  Pascal's  Lettres  Provinciates  found 
their  way  to  the  colony  and  gained  a  few  adher- 
ents. But  in  the  main  the  destinies  of  the  Cana- 
dian Church  were  less  affected  by  Jansenism  than 
by  the  strife  between  Gallican  and  Ultramontane. 

At  an  earlier  stage  we  considered  the  chief 
issues  which  were  involved  in  this  controversy. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Gallicans,  while 
in  no  sense  heretics,  sought  to  place  a  definite 
check  upon  the  powers  exercised  by  the  Pope 
over  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  France. 
Stated  under  another  form,  they  made  a  sharp 
distinction  between  the  government  of  the  Church 
and  its  faith.  The  Mass,  purgatory,  the  saints, 
confession,  and  the  celibacy  of  the  priest,  all 
meant  as  much  to  the  Gallican  as  to  the  Ultra- 
montane. Nor  did  the  Pope's  headship  prove 
a  stumbling  block  in  so  far  as  it  was  limited 
to  things  spiritual.     It  is  true  that  the   Gallican, 


The  Bishop — Laval  271 

going  back  to  the  decrees  of  Constance  and  Basel, 
asserted  the  subjection  of  the  Pope  to  a  General 
Council.  But  this  in  the  seventeenth  century 
was  a  theoretical  contention.  What  Louis  XIV. 
and  Bossuet  strove  for  was  the  limitation  of 
papal  power  in  jnatters  affecting  property  and 
pohtical  control.  jThe  appointment  of  bishops  and 
abbots,  the  contribution  of  the  Church  to  the 
needs  of  the  State,  and  the  priest's  standing  as 
a  subject  of  the  king,  were  questions  upon  which 
Gallican  and  Ultramontane  differed  in  the  days 
of  Laval. 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  the  clergy  of  New 
France  had  no  choice  but  to  decide  between  one 
line  of  policy  or  another.  Either  they  must  ac- 
cept the  king's  view  of  the  situation,  or  the  Pope's. 
The  alternatives  were  sharply  presented,  and  even 
the  breadth  of  the  ocean  did  not  afford  a  means 
of  escape  from  the  responsibility  of  decision. 
Whether  they  took  a  Gallican  or  an  Ultramontane 
tone  may  have  mattered  little  to  Europe,  but  to 
the  French  race  in  America  it  signified  much 
whether  the  Canadian  Church  at  the  outset  should 
range  itself  on  the  side  of  Louis  XIV.,  or  of  Inno- 
cent XL  With  Laval  at  Quebec  the  issue  could 
not  remain  doubtful,  and  never  since  his  time 
has  GaUicanism  made  headway  among  the  Cath- 
oUcs  of  Canada.  Thus  the  central  fact  in  the 
ecclesiastical  annals  of  New  France  is  that  from 
the  time  the  Bishopric  of  Quebec  was  established, 
the  Canadian  Church  has  been  in  direct  relations 
with  Rome,  and  also  in  direct  dependence  upon 
it.     At  first  glance  this  may  well  seem  a  paradox. 


272  The  Bishop — Laval 

Is  it  not  singular  that  Louis  XIV.  should  have 
failed  to  possess  in  Canada  the  same  powers  which 
he  possessed  at  home,  or,  to  use  a  phrase  of  Gar- 
neau,  "that  the  liberties  of  the  Church  in  the 
mother  country  should  not  have  been  extended 
to  the  colony ' '  ?  But  from  the  time  when  Laval 
first  crossed  the  Atlantic,  the  Canadian  clergy 
were  placed  in  direct  touch  with  Rome.  ^■^.^-'^ 

At  the  outset,  indeed,  a  special  jurisdiction 
over  Canada  was  claimed  by  the  Archbishop  of 
Rouen.  This  was  due  to  the  fact  that  in  1629 
New  France  had  been  placed,  in  civil  matters, 
under  the  Parlement  of  Rouen.  Civil  jurisdiction 
being  regulated  in  this  way,  the  Archbishop  of 
Rouen  assumed  that  he  had  the  episcopal  juris- 
diction and  acted  for  some  time  in  this  sense. 
In  1652  Mother  Marie  de  I'lncarnation  writes: 
"As  there  is  no  bishop  in  Canada,  the  Archbishop 
of  Rouen  has  declared  that  the  country  comes 
under  his  jurisdiction."  A  long  passage  in  the 
Journal  des  J  ^suites  for  1653  shows  a  willingness 
on  the  part  of  the  Jesuits  to  accept  the  same 
view. 

It  was  not  till  1657  that  active  steps  were 
taken  to  secure  the  creation  of  a  Canadian  bishop- 
ric. By  a  rule  of  the  order,  no  Jesuit  could  become 
a  bishop,  but  the  Sulpicians  were  free  from  such 
limitations.  Montreal,  their  special  stronghold,  set 
up  a  demand  in  1657  for  a  Canadian  bishopric,  and 
with  it  was  coupled  the  name  of  the  Abbe  Queylus. 
This  Father  was  already  in  Canada,  and  had  been 
named  superior  of  the  Sulpicians  at  Montreal 
by  Olier  himself.     When  the  matter  came  forward 


The  Bishop — Laval  273 

in  this  definite  form,  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen 
offered  no  objection.  With  his  consent  the  Abbe 
Queylus  was  named  Vicar-General  of  all  Canada, 
thus  taking  rank  before  the  superior  of  the  Jesuits, 
and  being  placed  in  possession  of  full  episcopal 
powers.  The  title  of  bishop  he  did  not  have, 
but  as  Vicar-General  of  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen, 
he  was  in  a  position  to  exercise  all  the  rights  which 
belonged  to  that  prelate — and  these  hitherto  had 
not  been  disputed.  On  receiving  word  of  his 
appointment  as  Vicar-General,  Queylus  left  Father 
Souart  in  charge  of  the  parish  at  Montreal,  and 
took  into  his  own  hands  the  parish  of  Quebec. 
But  it  was  soon  to  appear  that  the  Archbishop 
of  Rouen  was  not  the  Pope.  The  Jesuits  had  come 
to  Canada  seventeen  years  before  the  Sulpicians; 
they  had  sent  out  far  more  men  as  missionaries; 
they  were  a  stronger,  more  important  order  in 
the  Church.  Altogether,  they  did  not  see  why, 
if  a  new  bishop  were  to  be  appointed,  he  should 
be  named  by  the  Sulpicians  rather  than  by  them- 
selves. They  had  large  interests  in  the  colony 
to  protect,  and  were  prepared  to  protect  them. 
Furthermore,  the  Abbe  Queylus  was  personally 
objectionable  to  them.  He  was  not  a  man  of 
temperate  speech,  and  improved  matters  httle 
by  likening  the  Jesuits  to  the  Pharisees  in  a  ser- 
mon which  he  preached  at  Quebec. 

As  a  result  of  the  opposition  which  the  Jesuits 
offered  to  the  Sulpician  nominee,  two  things 
happened:  the  Abbe  Queylus  lost  his  ciiance  of 
becoming  a  bishop,  being  supplanted  by  Laval; 
and,    secondly,    the    Canadian    Church   was   taken 


274  The  Bishop — Laval 

away  from  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen  to  be  placed 
directly  under  the  Pope. 

The  dispute  over  the  bishopric  would  furnish 
a  fine  subject  for  a  special  essay,  but  here  we  are 
concerned  with  the  results  rather  than  with  the 
circumstances  of  that  dispute.  The  Jesuits  had 
a  powerful  friend  in  Anne  of  Austria,  the  Queen 
Mother  and  Regent.  Moreover,  the  Papacy  was 
not  averse  to  having  the  Canadian  Church  placed 
directly  under  its  control,  to  the  exclusion  of  such 
claims  as  had  been  advanced  by  the  Archbishop 
of  Rouen.  The  ground  taken  by  the  Holy  See 
was  that  the  appointment  of  missionary  bishops 
belonged  to  the  Pope.  Before  1657  the  eccle- 
siastical interests  of  Canada  certainly  had  centred 
in  the  mission,  though  New  France  was  a  royal 
colony.  As  debated  in  France  the  issue  involved 
a  crossing  of  swords  between  the  Ultramontanes, 
or  the  extreme  papal  party,  and  the  Gallicans 
who  supported  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen.  Not 
only  did  the  Jesuits  possess  more  influence  than 
the  Sulpicians  with  Anne  of  Austria;  they  had  the 
ear  of  the  Pope.  Accordingly,  it  was  arranged 
that,  instead  of  the  Abbe  Queylus,  the  new  bishop 
should  be  a  churchman  whose  name  had  been 
suggested  by  the  Jesuits.  This  was  Fran(;ois 
Xavier  de  Laval-Montmorency,  known  to  us  aU 
by  the  shorter  title  of  Bishop  Laval.  The  Sul- 
picians, the  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  the  Parlement 
of  Rouen,  and  even  the  Parlement  of  Paris  remon- 
strated, but  in  vain.  It  was  arranged  between 
the  crown  and  the  Pope  that  the  Canadian  Church 
should  henceforth  be  recognised  as  coming  directly 


Laval 


The  Bishop — Laval  275 

under  the  jurisdiction  of  Rome.  The  one  stipu- 
lation insisted  upon  by  the  crown  was  that  the 
new  prelate  should  take  the  oath  of  allegiance. 
Montreal,  the  Sulpicians,  and  the  Archbishop  of 
Rouen  had  proved  a  poor  match  for  Quebec,  the 
Jesuits,  and  the  Holy  See.  The  trouble  did  not 
end  with  the  appointment  of  Laval.  Queylus 
was  unwilling  to  accept  deposition.  Laval  reached 
Canada  in  the  spring  of  16^9.  For  two  years 
longer  Queylus  actively  defended  his  own  cause, 
opposing  Laval  and  disobeying  royal  orders.  It 
was  not  until  1661  that  peace  was  restored  to 
the  Canadian  Church,  by  the  intervention  of  the 
crown.  Acting  under  royal  orders,  Argenson,  the 
governor,  sent  Queylus  back  to  France.  There  he 
remained  till  1668,  when  a  formal  reconciliation  took 
place  between  him  and  Laval.  The  Sulpician,  after 
duly  acknowledging  his  submission,  was  permitted 
to  enter  Canada  once  more  as  a  missionary. 

Having  seen  how  Bishop  Laval  first  became 
connected  with  New  France,  we  must  now  exam- 
ine his  character  and  policy.  That  Laval  was 
a  man  of  strong  traits  and  self-denying  habits, 
all  are  agreed.  His  energy,  concentration,  and 
administrative  talents  are  also  conspicuous.  The 
fervour  of  his  piety  was  such  that  servants  and 
others  who  came  in  close  personal  contact  with 
him,  looked  upon  him  as  a  saint.  These  things 
are  undisputed,  and  yet  his  character  has  been 
estimated  very  differently  by  different  writers. 
The  latest  hfe  of  Laval  is  that  published  a  few 
months  ago  by  M.  Leblond  de  Brumath  in  the 
Makers   of  Canada  series.     Here   the  tone   is  one 


276  The  Bishop — Laval 

of  unshackled  and  limitless  eulogy.  I  cite  one 
passage  only,  but  there  are  many,  many  pages 
in  the  same  strain.  In  mentioning  Laval's  death, 
M.  Leblond  de  Brumath  says:  "It  was  with  a 
quiver  of  grief,  which  was  felt  in  all  hearts  through- 
out the  colony,  that  men  learned  the  fatal  news. 
The  banks  of  the  great  river  repeated  this  great 
woe  to  the  valleys;  the  sad  certainty  that  the 
father  of  all  had  disappeared  forever,  sowed  deso- 
lation in  the  homes  of  the  rich  as  well  as  in  the 
thatched  huts  of  the  poor.  A  cry  of  pain,  a  deep 
sob  arose  from  the  bosom  of  Canada  which  would 
not  be  consoled  because  its  incomparable  bishop 
was  no  more." 

If  M.  Leblond  de  Brumath  is  Laval's  rhapso- 
dist,  Parkman  may  be  taken  as  a  type  of  the  critic 
who  views  his  career  with  a  total  want  of  sym- 
pathy for  its  ideals.  "He  fought  lustily,  in  his 
way,"  says  Parkman,  "against  the  natural  man; 
and  humility  was  the  virtue  to  the  culture  of  which 
he  gave  his  chief  attention,  but  soil  and  climate 
were  not  favourable.  His  life  was  one  long  asser- 
tion of  the  authority  of  the  Church,  and  this  au- 
thority was  lodged  in  himself.  In  his  stubborn 
fight  for  ecclesiastical  ascendency,  he  was  aided 
by  the  impulses  of  a  nature  that  loved  to  rule, 
and  could  not  endure  to  yield.  His  principles 
and  his  instinct  of  domination  were  acting  in 
perfect  unison,  and  his  conscience  was  the  hand- 
maid of  his  fault.  Austerities  and  mortifications 
could  avail  little  against  influences  working  so 
powerfully  and  so  insidiously  to  stimulate  the 
most  subtle  of  human  vices." 


The  Bishop — Laval  277 

These  two  passages  are  not  placed  side  by 
side  because  the  one  represents  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic, and  the  other  the  Protestant,  view  of  Laval's 
character.  In  the  first  place,  Parkman  was  a 
religious  radical  rather  than  a  Protestant  in  the 
ordinary  sense  of  that  word.  And,  secondly,  there 
are  a  good  many  Roman  Catholics  who  would 
hardly  care  to  accept  the  interpretation  of  Laval's 
life  and  deeds  which  is  given  by  M.  Leblond  de 
Brumath.  For  example,  Garneau  says:  "He  was 
endowed  with  much  talent  and  great  activity; 
but  his  spirit  was  absolute  and  domineering;  he 
wished  to  make  all  yield  to  his  will.  In  his  case 
rehgious  zeal  confirmed  this  tendency  which  still 
further,  on  a  small  stage,  often  degenerated  into 
quarrels  with  public  men,  religious  communities, 
and  even  with  individuals.  He  was  convinced 
that  he  could  not  err  in  his  judgments  so  long  as 
he  acted  in  the  interest  of  the  Church.  This 
idea  led  him  to  undertake  projects  which  in 
Europe  would  have  seemed  most  exorbitant. 
As  bishop  he  strove  to  make  his  clergy  a  passive 
soldiery,  obedient  to  its  chief  as  the  Jesuits  to 
their  general.  The  civil  power  he  wished  to 
disarm  or  render  the  instrument  of  his  designs." 

Thus  Garneau  wrote  sixty  years  ago,  and  in 
recent  times  Mr.  Suite  has  expressed  the  same 
view  even  more  pungently.  The  sixth  chapter 
of  his  fourth  volume  begins  thus:  *Tt  has  been 
asked  whether  Mgr.  de  Laval  represented  the 
national  clergy  of  Canada.  We  say,  NO.  From 
1657  to  1674  at  least  he  was  no  more  than  an 
instrument   in   the   hands   of   the   Jesuits."     Most 


27 S  The  Bishop — Laval 

interesting  of  all,  to  me,  is  the  studied  silence 
which  the  chief  Sulpician  historian,  the  Abbe 
Faillon,  preserves  on  the  subject  of  Laval's  char- 
acter. So  far  as  I  am  able  to  discover,  his  His- 
toire  de  la  Colonic  Franfaise  passes  over  the 
matter  altogether.  Laval,  of  course,  is  mentioned 
hundreds  of  times.  At  one  important  juncture 
he  is  expressly  given  credit  for  uprightness  of 
motive,  but  no  attempt  is  made  to  plumb  the 
depths  of  his  nature,  or  to  appreciate  the  merits 
of  his  work.  Faillon  is  eloquent  regarding  the 
qualities  of  Olier,  Maisonneuve,  and  Queylus,  but 
as  to  the  personality  of  Laval — not  a  syllable. 
The  historian  is  loath  to  lay  stress  upon  negative 
evidence,  which  is  often  most  fallacious.  But 
one  cannot  think  that  here  we  have  an  acciden- 
tal omission.  When  Faillon  reaches  that  part 
of  his  narrative  where  Queylus  enters,  he  heads 
the  section,  **Quahtes  et  travaux  de  M.  de  Quey- 
lus,"— a  title  which  introduces  a  eulogistic  appre- 
ciation. When  he  has  occasion,  however,  to 
introduce  Laval,  he  simply  calls  him  a  very  vir- 
tuous priest  who  wished  to  work  with  the  Jesuits 
for  the  salvation  of  the  Indians,  because  in  Can- 
ada he  would  be  forced  to  undergo  the  most 
severe  privations.  This,  unless  I  am  much  mis- 
taken, is  all  the  praise  which  Bishop  Laval  gets 
from  the  Abbe  Faillon. 

From  what  has  just  been  said  it  must  be  clear 
that  there  are  more  than  two  judgments  of  Laval 
— a  laudatory  judgment  of  the  Catholic,  and  an 
unfavourable  judgment  of  the  Protestant.  So  far 
as  we  are  concerned  here,  the  question  of  Catholic 


The  Bishop — Laval  279 

and  Protestant  does  not  come  in  at  aUlj  Laval 
was  a  prelate  of  vigorous  character  and  definite 
views,  who  had  a  distinct  policy  regarding  the 
organisation  of  the  Canadian  Church  in  its  infancy. 
Any  one  of  his  clear-cut  views  and  personal  deter- 
mination was  likely  to  create  antagonism.  In 
carrying  out  the  programme  which  he  consid- 
ered the  best  for  the  Church,  he  ran  athwart 
established  interests  and  convictions  little  less 
pronounced  than  his  own.  The  extreme  central- 
isation that  he  longed  for  could  be  attained  only 
through  a  large  sacrifice  of  independence  on  the 
part  of  the  secular  clergy.  Hence  arose  differ- 
ences of  which  a  faint  echo  can  still  be  heard. 
Let  us  now  consider  some  of  Laval's  more  impor- 
tant acts  as  head  of  the  Canadian  Church. 

First  of  all,  one  observes  his  determination 
to  defend  the  dignity  of  his  office.  So  far  I  have 
neglected  to  state  that  when  he  came  to  Canada 
he  was  not  Bishop  of  Quebec.  He  was  an  apos- 
tolic vicar,  appointed  by  the  Pope.  That  is  to 
say,  he  was  a  bishop  duly  consecrated  by  papal 
nuncio,  but  at  the  moment  no  fixed  diocese  had 
been  created  for  him  in  New  France.  This  step 
was  delayed  until  arrangements  could  be  con- 
cluded between  the  Pope  and  the  French  crown 
regarding  the  status  of  the  Canadian  Church. 
In  the  meantime  Laval  took  his  title  from  Petraea 
in  Arabia,  being  thus  a  titular  bishop,  without 
a  diocese  definitely  marked  out  inside  the  limits 
of  Christendom.  That  is  to  say  he  was  a  bishop 
in  partibus  infldelium,  with  the  exact  title  Mon- 
seigneur    de    Petraea.      The    Bishopric    of    Quebec 


28o  The  Bishop — Laval 

was  created  by  papal  bull  in  1670,  but  the  bull 
was  not  published  till  1674,  fifteen  years  after 
Laval  came  to  Canada. 

Yet  though  not  at  first  a  Bishop  of  Quebec, 
Laval  was  Vicar  Apostolic,  and  as  such  claimed 
a  precedence  in  the  colony  which  the  governor 
felt  unwilling  to  allow.  It  is  clear  that  he  who 
placed  humiUty  first  among  the  virtues  was  not 
seeking  to  exalt  himself,  albeit  a  Montmorency 
and  a  descendant  of  the  Great  Constable.  He 
was  simply  giving  his  view  of  the  proper  relation 
between  Church  and  State — of  the  proper  rela- 
tion between  the  Pope's  representative  and  the 
King's  representative.  Laval  reached  Quebec  on 
June  i6th,  1659.  In  the  Journal  des  Jt^suites  under 
September  7th  of  the  same  year  may  be  seen 
the  following  entry:  "There  was  at  this  time  a 
sharp  dispute  respecting  the  position  in  church 
of  the  seats  of  Mgr.  the  Bishop  and  M.  the  Gov- 
ernor. M.  D'Ailleboust  intervened,  and  it  was 
agreed  that  the  seat  of  Mgr.  the  Bishop  should 
be  within  the  altar  rails,  and  that  of  M.  the  Gov- 
ernor outside  the  rails  in  the  body  of  the  Church/* 
On  December  2,  the  Feast  of  St.  Francis  Xavier, 
the  record  is:  "No  one  was  invited  to  the  refec- 
tory for  dinner.  The  principal  reason  for  this 
was,  that  to  invite  the  Bishop  without  the  Gov- 
ernor, or  the  other  way  about,  would  cause  jealousy, 
and  neither  will  yield  the  other  precedence."  At 
Christmas  of  the  same  year,  a  really  sharp  quar- 
rel arose  between  Argenson  and  Laval,  because 
at  midnight  Mass  the  Bishop  had  the  Deacon 
offer     the    incense    first    to    him,    after    which    a 


The  Bishop — Laval  281 

lesser  ministrant  was  sent  to  offer  it  to  the 
Governor. 

All  these  things  happened  before  Laval  had 
been  in  Quebec  seven  months,  and  many  more 
misunderstandings  of  a  like  character  are  set 
down  under  subsequent  dates  in  the  Journal  des 
Jdsuites.  But  the  difficulties  which  the  Bishop 
had  with  Argenson  were  nothing  compared  with 
those  which  arose  between  him  and  two  later 
governors — D'Avaugour  and  De  Mezy.  With 
D'Avaugour  the  question  in  dispute  related  to 
the  punishment  of  those  who  sold  brandy  to  the 
Indians.  With  De  Mezy  it  hinged  upon  personal 
matters  connected  with  the  Sovereign  Council. 
In  both  cases  Laval  was  able  to  secure  the  recall 
of  the  obnoxious  governor.  D'Avaugour  fell  in 
1663,  and  De  Mezy  in  1664. 

The  strife,  however,  between  Bishop  and  Gov- 
ernor is  a  matter  of  slight  moment  compared 
with  Laval's  plans  for  the  organisation  of  the 
Canadian  Church.  And  here  two  subjects  stand 
out  before  all  others:  the  question  of  the  cures 
and  the  question  of  the  seminary.  To  be  sure, 
the  seminary  was  created  for  the  education  of 
the  curh,  but  for  present  purposes  it  \vill  be  more 
convenient  to  observe  a  distinction  between  the 
two  subjects. 

Before  we  examine  Laval's  attitude  towards 
the  parish  priests,  a  word  should  be  said  regarding 
the  status  of  the  parochial  clergy  at  the  time  when 
he  came  to  the  colony.  Under  the  seigniorial 
regime,  the  seigniory  furnished  a  normal  basis 
for  the  parish,  but  the  poverty  of  Canada  was  such 


282  The  Bishop— Laval 

that  it  proved  impossible  at  the  outset  to  support 
a  cure  on  each  seigniory.  During  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIV.  there  v^^ere  thousands  of  cures  in  France 
who  hved  on  two  hundred  hvres  a  year,  but  in 
Canada,  with  the  greater  cost  of  necessaries,  five 
hundred  Uvres  was  the  least  sum  which  could  be 
allotted  to  the  support  of  a  parish  priest.  Before 
the  time  of  Laval  this  sum  proved  in  most  cases 
prohibitive,  and  one  cur^  had  to  do  duty  among 
the  inhabitants  of  several  seigniories.  He  was, 
in  fact,  a  missionary  to  the  habitants,  as  the  Recol- 
lets  and  Jesuits  were  missionaries  to  the  Indians. 
During  the  period  of  Montmagny  (1636-1648), 
the  number  of  the  secular  clergy  was  small  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  the  Jesuits,  and 
few  of  the  priests  were  in  any  sense  stationary. 
Father  Le  Sueur  and  Father  Nicolet  were  to  all 
intents  cur^s  of  Beauport  and  other  suburbs  of 
Quebec,  but  that  was  simply  because  the  region 
around  the  capital  happened  to  have  more  inhabi- 
tants than  other  parts  of  the  country. 

Down  to  the  time  of  Laval  not  one  man  born 
in  New  France  had  been  ordained  priest.  The 
first  cure'  of  Canadian  birth  was  Germain  Morin, 
who  received  his  consecration  in  1665.  Between 
this  date  and  1700  the  number  of  Canadian  priests 
reached  only  twenty-three,  as  opposed  to  more 
than  a  hundred  and  fifty  priests  who  came  out 
from  France  during  the  same  period,  and  eighty- 
two  Jesuits.  Altogether,  between  1665  and  the 
date  of  the  conquest,  there  were  a  hundred  and 
seventy-nine  priests  of  Canadian  origin  in  the 
colony  as  opposed  to  five  hundred  and  seventy- 


The  Bishop — Laval  283 

two  priests  who  came  from  France.  In  other  words 
the  proportion  of  French  priests  to  Canadians, 
even  after  the  period  of  Laval,  was  as  three  to  one. 

These  figures  are  worth  citing  because  some 
debate  has  arisen  over  an  important  point  which 
may  be  connected  with  them.  Did  Laval  create 
a  national  Canadian  clergy?  Parkman,  for  one, 
credits  him  with  the  wish  to  do  so.  "If  Laval," 
he  says,  "had  to  wait  for  his  mitre  he  found  no 
delay  and  no  difficulty  in  attaining  another  object 
no  less  dear  to  him.  He  wished  to  provide  priests 
for  Canada,  drawn  from  the  Canadian  population, 
fed  with  sound  and  wholesome  doctrine,  reared 
under  his  eye,  and  moulded  to  his  hand.  To  this 
end  he  proposed  to  estabhsh  a  seminary  at  Que- 
bec." M.  Suite,  on  the  contrary,  will  not  admit 
that  Laval  is  in  any  sense  a  representative  of 
the  national,  the  Canadian  clergy.  According  to 
his  contention  Laval  did  not  check  in  any  way 
the  coming  of  ecclesiastics,  especially  of  Jesuits 
from  France.  Accordingly  the  Canadian  Church 
was  filled  with  outsiders,  the  native-bom  clergy 
being  so  few  down  to  the  conquest  as  to  have 
no  part  in  the  control  of  ecclesiastical  affairs. 
Viewed  from  his  standpoint  the  habitants  had 
a  grievance  from  beginning  to  end  of  the  Old 
Regime.  They  asked  for  cutis  and  they  got  Jes- 
uits. They  asked  for  a  native  clergy  and  what 
they  got  was  a  clergy  sent  out  from  France. 

So    far    Suite.     Before    trying    to    adjust    the 
balance    between    him    and    those    who    maintain 
that  Laval  was  a  true  friend  of  the  Canadian  clergy 
let  us  see  where  the  Seminary  comes  in.     There 


284  The  Bishop — Laval 

were  in  fact  two  seminaries:  the  first  estab- 
lished by  the  Bishop  four  years  after  he  came  to 
Canada  and  designed  for  the  education  of  the 
clergy;  the  second,  or  Little  Seminary,  founded 
in  1668,  ^.nd  designed  as  a  preliminary  school 
for  boys  who  intended  later  on  to  enter  the 
priesthood.  The  Seminary  was  more  than  a 
teaching  institution.  Laval  intended  it  to  be 
a  powerful  corporation  which  should  control  and 
make  efficient  the  work  of  the  secular  clergy. 
Placed  under  a  superior  who  was  chosen  by  the 
bishop,  it  had  every  likelihood  of  becoming  an 
important  factor  in  the  scheme  of  centralisation. 

Now,  two  things  are  certain.  The  Seminary 
was  founded  to  educate  for  orders  youths  born 
in  the  colony.  If  one  may  use  a  phrase  common 
in  academic  circles,  it  had  no  chance  of  attract- 
ing students  from  France  or  New  England.  It 
was  a  purely  local  institution.  And  secondly, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  Laval's  enthusiasm 
for  it.  He  lavished  upon  it  his  affection.  He 
endowed  it  with  the  lands  which  had  been  given 
him  in  Canada,  including  the  great  seigniory  of 
Beaupre.  In  a  word,  it  became  as  large  a  part 
of  his  life  as  anything  mundane  could  be. 

These  facts,  it  seems  to  me,  are  undeniable, 
and  yet  one  part  of  Suite's  contention  cannot  be 
disregarded.  The  native  element  in  the  Cana- 
dian Church  remained  a  small  factor  both  in 
Laval's  time  and  throughout  the  Old  Regime. 
My  own  view  in  the  matter  is  this.  Laval  was 
extremely  anxious  to  stimulate  the  religious  life 
of  Canada,  to  make  the  Canadians  a  religious  peo- 


The  Bishop — Laval  285 

pie.  Such  an  aim  obviously  involved  the  training 
of  Canadian  priests,  and  these  could  not  be  trained 
without  the  creation  of  an  institution  like  the 
Seminary.  But  Laval,  though  he  took  for  his 
task  the  firm  establishment  of  Catholicism  in 
Canada,  looked  at  the  problem  from  the  view- 
point of  the  Church  at  large.  He  was  willing, 
indeed  anxious,  that  there  should  be  a  Canadian 
clergy,  but  he  could  not  fail  to  see  that  the  com- 
munity from  which  these  native  priests  were 
drawn  was  a  small  one.  It  was  impossible  at 
once  to  provide  machinery  for  educating  the 
Canadian  cur^  up  to  the  point  that  had  been 
reached  by  priests  who  could  be  brought  over 
from  France.  Many  practical  difficulties  stood 
in  the  way  of  making  the  clergy  of  Canada  pre- 
dominantly Canadian. 

And  above  all  Laval  was  a  believer  in  cen- 
tralisation, even  rigorous  centralisation.  If  it  be 
urged  against  him  that  he  was  not  a  Canadian 
in  feeling,  neither  was  he  a  Frenchman.  He  was 
a  Churchman.  By  this  it  is  not  implied  that 
one  who  lets  the  ecclesiastical  interest  in  his  life 
come  first  is  prevented  thereby  from  having  a 
deep  fondness  for  a  particular  country.  But  should 
a  clash  arise  between  Church  and  State,  a  prelate 
of  Laval's  ideals  thinks  first  of  the  Church.  He 
came  to  Canada  as  a  papal  representative,  and 
though  a  Montmorency  he  never  suffered  the 
national  traditions  of  France  to  deflect  him  from 
utter  loyalty  to  the  Pope.  The  Galileans  who, 
like  Bossuet,  contended  that  a  General  Council 
was  above  the  Pope,  were  of  another  spirit  than 


286  The  Bishop — Laval 

his.  Laval  looked  upon  the  Church  of  his  native 
France  as  tainted  with  Gallicanism.  Local  inde- 
pendence within  the  Church  Catholic  was  not 
his  ideal.  He  believed  in  papal  autocracy  for  the 
whole  Church,  and  in  the  autocracy  of  the  bishop 
within  his  own  diocese.  It  is  a  fact  of  profound 
significance  that  the  Canadian  Church  in  his  day, 
and  with  his  active  co-operation,  should  have 
become  closely  linked  with  Rome.  Since  1659 
it  has  been  in  direct  communication  with  and 
dependence  upon  the  Holy  See.  Free  from  GaUi- 
canism,  and  finding  its  highest  incentive  in  devo- 
tion to  the  Petrine  Chair,  the  Catholic  Church 
in  French  Canada  has  progressed  in  harmony 
with  the  principles  which  were  dear  to  Laval. 
And  when  we  remember  that  the  Church  has  been 
the  surest  anchor  of  French  sentiment  in  Canada, 
the  importance  of  Laval  in  our  annals  will  be  still 
more  clearly  apprehended. 

Much  might  be  said  upon  the  subject  of  mov- 
able cures.  Laval  wished  that  the  priests  should 
not  be  rooted  to  a  single  parish,  but  stand  ready 
to  go  wherever  the  bishop  saw  fit.  Reasons  for 
this  unusual  arrangement  existed  in  local  condi- 
tions, the  land  being  so  thinly  inhabited  that 
priests  must  needs  travel  a  great  deal  to  perform 
their  ministrations.  Objections,  however,  were 
raised  both  by  the  people  of  New  France  and 
the  king,  and  of  the  many  conflicts  in  which  Laval 
was  engaged,  this  proved  the  most  difficult.  In 
Laval's  eyes  the  matter  was  one  which  simply 
concerned  his  own  administration  of  the  diocese; 
Louis  XIV.,  on  the  other  hand,  saw  in  it  an  undue 


The  Bishop — Laval  287 

extension  of  episcopal  power,  and  opposed  Laval 
because  the  crown  could  not  afford  to  have  him 
too  absolute. 

For  the  sake  of  examining  large  issues  connected 
with  the  Canadian  Church,  we  have  avoided  the 
details  of  Laval's  biography,  and  the  intricate 
course  of  his  contests  with  Queylus,  D'Avaugour, 
De  Mezy,  and  the  crown.  Before  leaving  this 
subject,  there  are  two  more  topics  which  should 
come  before  us — the  labours  of  the  missionary 
cure  and  the  state  of  education  in  New  France. 

No  one  who  is  at  all  famiUar  with  his  efforts 
can  speak  of  the  Canadian  curS  without  words 
of  warmest  praise.  Underpaid  and  overworked, 
he  endured  the  most  trying  privations  to  fulfil 
the  duties  of  his  office.  On  the  south  shore  of 
the  Lower  St.  Lawrence,  Father  Morel  had  a 
parish  eighty-one  miles  long,  with  a  total  popula- 
tion of  about  three  hundred  souls.  At  Kamou- 
raska  he  had  one  parishioner;  at  Lacombe  there 
were  five  families;  at  St.  Denis,  two,  and  so  on. 
With  a  servant  to  paddle  him  and  carry  his  port- 
able chapel,  the  curS  of  the  seventeenth  century 
spent  his  hfe  in  making  a  perpetual  series  of  rounds, 
through  rivers,  lakes,  and  forests,  at  all  weathers, 
in  all  seasons.  For  the  heroic  period  of  New 
France,  the  missionary  and  the  itinerant  cure 
are  the  most  striking  figures  in  the  ecclesiastical 
world.  Yet  one  must  not  forget  the  priests  of 
Saint  Sulpice,  teaching  the  Indians  and  working 
among  the  colonists  at  Montreal,  when  that  hamlet 
was  still  an  outpost  against  the  Iroquois. 

In  coming,  finally,  to  the  subject  of  education, 


288  The  Bishop— Laval 

I  must  touch,  though  with  some  reluctance,  upon 
what  would  seem  to  be  the  greatest  limitation 
of  New  France.  The  boldness  and  genius  of  the 
explorer,  the  unflinching  faith  of  the  missionary, 
the  stubborn  industry  of  the  colonist,  and  the 
infinite  daring  of  the  soldier,  have  all  been  touched 
upon  in  these  chapters,  f  But  much  as  I  admire 
the  best  accomplishment  of  New  France,  I  cannot 
but  describe  the  intellectual  side  of  its  Ufe  as  wofuUy 
deficient^In  speaking  thus  strongly,  one  does 
not  set  up  an  impossible  standard.  The  difficulties 
of  colonial  life,  the  sparseness  of  the  population, 
the  need  for  action  rather  than  for  study,  the  lack 
of  wealth  and  leisure, — none  of  these  considera- 
tions is  forgotten.  In  Laval's  time  one  does  not 
exact  from  the  native  population  of  Canada  a 
Racine  or  a  Bossuet,  still  less  a  Descartes  or  a 
Pascal.  But  what  I  mean  to  convey  can  be 
expressed  with  perfect  clearness  by  a  single  fact. 
During  the  hundred  and  fifty-two  years  of  the 
Old  Regime,  from  the  founding  of  Quebec  to 
Levis'  surrender.  New  France  did  not  have  a 
printing-press.  According  to  M.  Phileas  Gagnon, 
two  mandements  issued  by  Bishop  Pontbriand  in 
1759  came  from  a  local  press.  But  the  point  is 
doubtful,  and  for  purposes  of  the  present  state- 
ment, of  no  importance  whatever.  Bishop  Pont- 
briand may,  or  may  not,  have  had  a  printing-press 
with  which  to  strike  off  his  mande^ne^its  when  Wolfe 
was  besieging  Quebec.  The  broad  fact  is  that  the 
first  printing-press  in  Canada  was  that  set  up  at 
Quebec  by  Brown  and  Gilmore  as  late  as  1764.* 

♦Towards  the  close  of  the  French  period,  La  GaHssoni^re 


The  Bishop — Laval  289 

In  no  case  could  we  expect  to  find  printers 
working  at  Quebec  before  the  advent  of  Laval 
in  1659,  or  before  1663,  when  Louis  XIV.  and 
Colbert  began  to  build  up  the  colony.  However, 
at  some  period  during  the  lifetime  of  Laval — and 
he  did  not  die  till  1708 — one  might  hope  to  hear 
of  a  printing-press  at  Quebec,  had  the  Church 
favoured  general  education.  That  such  a  con- 
jecture is  not  unreasonable  may  be  judged  from 
two  other  episodes  in  the  history  of  printing.  The 
colony  of  Massachusetts  was  founded  in  1630, 
and  eight  years  later  there  was  a  press  at  Cam- 
bridge. Massachusetts  did  in  eight  years  what 
New  France  did  not  do  in  a  hundred  and  fifty- 
eight.  The  other  example  is  more  striking  still. 
Cortez  conquered  Mexico  between  15 19  and  152 1. 
In  1535  that  country  had  a  printing-press,  and 
the  Spaniards  are  not  thought  very  progressive  in 
such  matters. 

[  One  can  only  account  for  the  absence  of  print- 
ing in  Canada  under  the  Old  Regime  on  the  hypoth- 
esis that  the  Church  did  not  care  to  encourage 
general  intellectual  activities.  It  had  its  own 
programme  of  education  drafted  on  ecclesiastical 
fines,  and  designed  to  promote  the  religious  wel- 
fare of  the  colony.     Whether  its  attitude  towards 

wished  to  establish  a  printing-press.  The  government  replied 
(May  4,  1749)  that  the  plan  would  only  be  considered  "if  a 
printer  presents  himself  for  the  privilege,  when  the  conditions 
on  which  it  can  be  granted  will  be  examined."  See  Report  of 
the  Dominion  Archives  for  1905,  vol.  i,  p.  116.  Peter  Kalm 
who  visited  Canada  during  the  summer  of  1749  says  that  though 
then  the  colony  had  no  printing-press,  it  possessed  one  formerly. 
This  statement  seems  to  be  based  on  false  information. 


290  The  Bishop — Laval 

secular  education  was  judicious,  each  of  us  must 
determine  for  himself.  Of  late  the  world  has  seen, 
with  admiration,  among  the  Roman  Catholic  laity 
of  France  intellectual  leaders  like  Montalembert 
and  Pasteur.  Pasteur,  the  greatest  benefactor  of 
mankind  in  recent  ages,  was  a  Catholic  whose 
faith  did  not  suffer  from  its  contact  with  science. 
I  do  not  for  a  moment  suggest  that  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  Canada  could  reasonably  be  expected 
to  produce  a  Catholic  layman  like  Montalembert 
or  Pasteur,  but  had  the  Church  so  chosen  the 
laity  might  have  received  an  education  which 
they  did  not  receive. 

The  English  colonies  in  America  produced 
before  the  Revolution  men  like  Copley,  the  artist, 
Benjamin  Franklin,  and  Benjamin  Thompson, 
Count  Rumford.  One  does  not  pretend  that  Frank- 
lin and  Rumford  had  all  the  virtues  of  Champlain 
and  Maisonneuve,  but  if  there  is  to  be  material 
progress  in  a  community,  and  the  improvement 
of  the  human  lot  which  comes  from  material  prog- 
ress, men  of  that  type  must  be  produced.  That 
New  France  did  not  produce  them,  or  try  to  pro- 
duce them,  is  a  notable  fact.  I  shall  refrain  from 
all  attempt  to  estimate  its  bearing  upon  the  spir- 
itual well-being  of  the  colony.  But  having  regard 
to  every  other  interest,  we  should  deem  the  absence 
of  a  printing-press  during  the  Old  Regime  to  be 
even  a  greater  misfortune  than  any  which  Canada 
suffered  from  the  unwise  paternaUsm  of  the  French 
crown. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  GOVERNOR— FRONTENAC 

FRONTENAC,  the  most  famous,  the  most  the- 
atrical governor  of  New  France,  is  also  the 
only  one  who  reaches  our  expectation  of  what 
a  governor  should  be.*  He  had  grave  faults  of 
temper,  and  he  was  often  injudicious,  but  his 
qualities  went  well  with  the  role  he  had  to  play. 
If  we  compare  him  with  the  other  governors  of 
the  colony,  it  is  easy  to  see  how,  by  virtue  of 
gifts  or  fortune,  he  stands  off  from  all  who  pre- 
ceded or  followed  him  in  the  same  office.  Both 
rank  and  opportunity  place  him  above  Cham- 
plain,  Montmagny,  or  D'Avaugour,  who  were  the 
chief  representatives  of  France  in  Canada  during 
the  regime  of  the  trading  companies.  After  Louis 
XIV.  took  Canada  into  his  own  hand,  the  func- 
tions of  the  governor  became  more  closely  defined. 
He  was  less  the  agent  of  a  corporation,  and  more 
a  viceroy.  His  political  status  gave  him  greater 
dignity,  though  with  the  intendant  at  his  side 
it  is  doubtful  whether  he  had  greater  powers. 
And  even  apart  from  the  variation  in  terms  between 
Frontenac's  commission  and  those  of  Champlain, 
Montmagny,   and   D'Avaugour,   the    circumstances 

*  Unfortunately  no  portrait  of  Frontenac  exists. 
291 


292  The  Governor — Frontenac 

of  his  period  were  very  different.  At  no  moment 
during  Champlain's  hfetime  were  there  more  than 
one  hundred  and  fifty  Frenchmen  in  Canada. 
During  the  twelve  years  of  Montmagny's  term, 
the  population  could  not  have  averaged  more 
than  four  hundred.  A  man  may  have  heaven- 
bom  qualities  of  leadership,  but  they  seldom 
disclose  themselves  when  the  community  over 
which  he  is  placed  resembles  the  puny  Canada 
of  1650. 

Thus,  as  compared  with  the  founders  of  the 
colony,  Frontenac  was  favoured  by  fortune  in 
that  the  scale  of  operations  had  by  his  time  grown 
sufficiently  large  to  furnish  scope  for  the  exercise 
of  commanding  qualities.  To  be  sure,  at  no  time 
had  he  beneath  his  sway  more  than  sixteen  thou- 
sand people,  but  there  is  a  great  difference  between 
five  hundred  subjects  and  sixteen  thousand.  Com- 
pared with  his  successors  in  the  post  of  governor, 
Frontenac  is  pre-eminent  by  virtue  of  a  bom 
gift  for  leadership,  by  his  force  of  will,  even  by 
the  hotness  of  his  temper.  Among  the  governors 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  elder  Vaudreuil 
cuts  a  better  figure  than  the  younger;  but  neither 
of  them,  nor  any  other  representative  of  France 
during  the  closing  years  of  French  rule,  is  on  any- 
thing like  even  terms  with  Frontenac.  For  some 
reasons  he  seems  out  of  place  in  Canada.  On 
the  ecclesiastical  side,  particularly,  his  temper  was 
not  that  of  the  colony  at  large.  But  the  more 
for  this  reason,  his  figure  catches  one's  attention 
and  holds  it.  There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  who 
is  the  governor  of  Canada  under  the  Old  Regime. 


The  Governor — Frontenac 


293 


In  rank  and  connections  Frontenac  was  greatly 
the  superior  of  most  governors.  During  the  early 
days  it  was  the  worst  form  of  banishment  to  be 
sent  to  Canada.  At  least  no  one  in  the  direct 
line  of  promotion,  either  at  court  or  in  the  army, 
could  have  received  without  the  most  painful 
regret  an  order  from  his  sovereign  to  sail  for  Que- 
bec. By  1672  the  office  was  better  worth  having, 
but  no  layman  of  high  family  had  set  foot  in  Can- 
ada before  1670.  Some  of  the  gentry  had  come 
over,  and  a  few  of  the  lesser  nobles,  but  from  first 
to  last  the  haute  noblesse  gave  Canada  the  cold 
shoulder.  Frontenac  ranked  much  higher  in  the 
French  aristocracy  than  most  of  the  governors, 
but  even  he  does  not  belong  by  birth  with  the 
Conde,  the  Conti,  or  the  Montmorency.  In  point 
of  lineage  Bishop  Laval  was  the  most  exalted 
personage  who  ever  had  a  prominent  part  in 
Canadian  life  during  the  French  period.  If  we 
place  Frontenac  in  the  middle  grade  of  the  aris- 
tocracy at  home,  it  is  as  lofty  a  position  as  mere 
ancestry  will  enable  him  to  claim.  But  compared 
with  most  of  those  whom  he  encountered  in  Can- 
ada, he  was  a  great  aristocrat. 

We  need  not  investigate  Frontenac' s  anteced- 
ents and  early  career.  When  he  first  came  to 
Canada  he  was  fifty-two  years  old,  an  age  at  which 
one's  character  is  fully  formed,  and  at  which  his 
attitude  towards  the  larger  questions  of  life  is  not 
likely  to  be  transformed  by  a  new  environment. 
Frontenac,  however,  was  quite  without  experience 
of  the  work  which  he  had  undertaken  to  perform. 
Hitherto  his  training  had  been  purely  European, 


294  The  Governor — Frontenac 

and  though  a  soldier  by  profession  there  was  a  ] 
vast  difference  between  campaigning  on  the  banks 
of  the  Rhine,  and  firing  at  a  Mohawk  from  behind 
a  tree.  Judged  by  the  standards  of  European 
warfare,  Frontenac  was  an  accomphshed  officer 
who  united  with  the  disciphne  and  experience  of 
a  veteran  marked  talent  for  every  part  of  his  j 
profession.  Three  years  before  he  came  to  Can- 
ada, Turenne  had  named  him  to  defend  Crete 
against  the  Turks,  thus  bringing  him  before  the 
eyes  of  all  Europe.  The  odds  were  overwhelm- 
ingly against  him  in  this  campaign,  but  he  issued 
from  it  with  enhanced  reputation,  and  was  at 
the  time  he  sailed  for  Canada  in  the  first  flight 
of  French  commanders. 

The  willingness  of  such  a  man  to  bury  him- 
self in  the  wilderness  requires  an  explanation, 
and  the  lighter  authors  of  that  day  do  not  shrink 
from  giving  one.  The  passage  most  often  quoted 
occurs  in  the  Memoirs  of  Saint  Simon.  "Fronte- 
nac," says  Saint  Simon,  "was  a  man  of  excellent 
parts,  living  much  in  society,  and  completely 
ruined.  He  found  it  hard  to  bear  the  imperious 
temper  of  his  wife,  and  was  given  the  government 
of  Canada  to  deliver  him  from  her,  and  afford 
him  some  means  of  Hving."  When  we  consider 
that  Frontenac' s  salary  as  governor  was  only 
8,000  livres,  we  must  draw  a  very  unfavourable 
conclusion  regarding  the  temper  of  his  Countess. 
But  we  should  do  the  lady  an  injustice  if  we  dis- 
missed her  with  no  further  notice  than  is  paid 
her  by  Saint  Simon  in  the  passage  just  cited.  She 
was   both   ambitious   and   clever.     Frontenac   had 


The  Governor — Frontenac  295 

married  her  for  love,  and  the  two  never  became 
so  alienated  that  the  wife  was  not  willing  to  work 
hard  at  court  for  her  husband's  interests.  Unfor- 
tunately each  had  an  aggressive,  independent 
spirit,  which  bore  resistance  ill  and  demanded 
a  good  deal  of  sea-room  for  its  operation.  Madame 
de  Frontenac  had  been  accustomed  to  adulation 
all  her  life,  and  perhaps  exacted  more  of  it  than 
her  fiery  husband  felt  disposed  to  pay.  On  his 
side  there  were  several  unpleasant  traits.  Fron- 
tenac was  not  only  quick  tempered,  but  extrava- 
gant and  boastful.  He  loved  to  make  vaunts 
about  his  plate,  his  table,  and  his  horses,  whereas, 
in  fact,  he  was  usually  hard  pressed  for  small 
change.  He  had  the  manners  of  a  grand  seigneur 
who  expects  deferential  treatment  from  every  one, 
together  with  a  hotness  of  speech  which  did  not 
make  for  peace.  It  is  not  strange  that  he  and 
his  wife  were  willing  to  have  the  ocean  between 
them.  The  real  singularity  is  that  after  their 
many  disagreements  she  should  have  felt  willing 
to  support  him  actively  against  his  enemies. 

But  in  exposing  the  weaknesses  of  Frontenac, 
one  must  guard  against  portraying  him  as  a  mere 
braggart  or  bully.  We  hear  much  nowadays  of 
double  consciousness,  and  are  all  familiar  with 
a  mixture  of  personalities  in  our  friends,  if  not  in 
ourselves.  The  Duke  of  Wellington  has  left  a 
most  interesting  account  of  his  one  and  only  meet- 
ing with  Nelson — a  meeting  which  took  place 
just  before  the  hero's  departure  for  Trafalgar. 
The  Duke  relates  how,  during  the  early  part  of 
this   interview.    Nelson    was   boasting   about   him- 


296  The  Governor — Frontenac 

self  and  his  deeds  in  a  manner  which  made  him 
seem  Ughtheaded.  But  presently  something  turned 
his  thought  into  another  channel,  and  the  Duke 
did  not  leave  him  without  realising  how  fully 
his  talents  equalled  his  reputation.  So  with  Fron- 
tenac. He  undoubtedly  was  vain,  spectacular, 
and  impulsive.  But  behind  it  all  he  had  solid 
parts — firmness  and  that  longing  to  do  great 
deeds  which  always  warms  the  imagination  of  the 
reader,  as  of  the  actor. 

When  once  we  get  Frontenac  on  Canadian 
soil,  we  become  the  more  impressed  with  the 
sense  of  his  contradictions.  He  who  often  was  so 
brusque  could  at  times  be  the  most  tactful  of 
men.  Arrogance  and  adaptabiUty  were  so  mingled 
in  his  character  that  his  actions  must  have  been 
a  source  of  constant  surprise  to  the  people  of  Que- 
bec. As  we  have  seen,  no  previous  experience 
had  given  him  personal  knowledge  of  the  condi- 
tions which  he  was  forced  to  meet  in  the  New 
World.  Yet  though  he  was  over  fifty  and  full 
of  prepossessions,  he  fitted  into  the  life  of  the 
wilderness  amazingly  well.  No  other  colonial  gov- 
ernor, whether  French  or  English,  ever  made  so 
deep  an  impression  upon  the  savages.  In  dealing 
with  them  he  had  no  false  pride,  whatever  may 
have  been  his  failings  in  that  respect  where  his 
equals  were  concerned.  He  and  the  savages  both 
loved  display.  They  were  alike  in  their  fondness 
for  eloquent  language,  fine  costume,  and  all  the 
trappings  which  could  set  off  a  formal  conference 
between  the  representatives  of  two  great  races. 
The   Iroquois   may   not   have   been   a   very   great 


The  Governor — Frontenac  297 

race,  but  they  thought  themselves  such,  and 
Frontenac  was  wilhng  to  treat  them  with  consid- 
eration. To  be  sure,  he  always  assumed  a  patri- 
archal tone  in  his  orations.  He  would  not  call 
them  brethren.  They  were  always  children.  But 
if  he  took  pains  to  impress  them  with  a  sense  of 
their  dependence  upon  the  French  king,  he  did  it 
with  civility  and  courtesy.  His  grand  manners, 
which  were  yet  tempered  by  great  friendliness, 
the  pomp  and  splendour  of  his  equipment,  his 
impressive  way  of  doing  things,  all  had  their  effect. 
The  best  single  example  of  these  conferences  is 
furnished  by  the  meeting  which  was  held  on  the 
shores  of  Lake  Ontario  during  the  construction  of 
Fort  Frontenac.  As  the  Iroquois  were  quite  clever 
enough  to  see  how  the  erection  of  a  French  strong- 
hold at  this  point  was  a  menace  to  their  safety, 
it  became  necessary  to  act  towards  them  with 
both  suavity  and  firmness.  Frontenac  had  been 
in  the  country  only  a  few  months  when  he  deter- 
mined that  there  should  be  a  French  fort  at  the 
point  where  the  St.  Lawrence  leaves  Lake  Ontario. 
Considering  his  lack  of  experience  in  such  things, 
it  is  marvellous  that  he  should  have  read  the  Indian 
mind  so  well,  and  been  able  to  treat  even  with 
the  Iroquois  on  his  own  terms. 

At  this  juncture  La  SaUe  appears  in  an  impor- 
tant role.  It  was  he  who  was  sent  on  special 
mission  to  the  Five  Nations  in  the  spring  of  1673, 
bidding  them  meet  Onontio  at  Cataraqui.  There- 
upon great  discussion  arose  in  the  Iroquois  world. 
On  the  one  side  there  was  dread,  for  every  one 
remembered  the  chastisement  which  the  Mohawks 


298  The  Governor — Frontenac 

had  received  from  Tracy  and  the  Carignan  Regi- 
ment eight  years  before.  Along  with  dread,  sus- 
picion w^as  always  blended  in  the  Indian  mind. 
As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  Frontenac  meant 
to  build  a  fortified  post  at  Cataraqui,  there  seemed 
real  ground  for  distrust.  However,  it  was  decided 
to  send  envoys,  and  on  the  13th  of  July  the  con- 
ference took  place. 

In  making  his  preparations  Frontenac  had 
omitted  nothing  which  could  awe  or  interest  the 
savage.  He  had  brought  with  him  all  the  troops 
that  safely  could  be  spared  from  Quebec,  and  fur- 
nished them  with  the  best  possible  equipment. 
Before  the  arrival  of  the  Iroquois,  he  built  on  Lake 
Ontario  two  great  barges  which  were  armed  with 
small  cannon  and  brilliantly  painted.  When  it 
was  time  for  the  savages  to  arrive,  the  whole  flotilla, 
including  a  multitude  of  canoes  arranged  in  the 
form  of  squadrons,  was  put  in  battle  array.  First 
came  four  squadrons  of  canoes;  then  the  two 
barges;  next  Frontenac  himself,  surrounded  by 
his  personal  attendants  and  the  regulars;  after 
that  the  Canadian  militia,  with  a  squadron  from 
Three  Rivers  on  the  left  flank,  and  on  the  right 
a  great  gathering  of  Hurons  and  Algonquins. 
The  rear  guard  was  composed  of  two  more  squad- 
rons. Never  had  such  a  display  been  seen  on 
the  Great  Lakes. 

Having  impressed  the  envoys  of  the  Five 
Nations  with  his  strength,  Frontenac  proceeded 
to  hold  solemn  and  stately  conference  with  them. 
But  this  he  did  not  do  on  the  day  of  the  great 
naval    procession.     He    wished    to    let    this    spec- 


The  Governor — Frontenac  299 

tacle  take  effect  before  he  approached  the  business 
that  had  brought  him  there.  It  was  not  until 
the  13th  that  the  meeting  opened.  At  seven 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  this  day,  the  French 
troops,  in  their  best  accoutrement,  were  all  on 
parade,  drawn  up  in  files  before  the  Governor's 
tent,  where  the  meeting  was  to  take  place.  Out- 
side the  tent  itself  large  canopies  of  canvas  had 
been  erected  to  shelter  the  Iroquois  from  the  sun, 
while  Frontenac,  in  his  most  brilliant  military- 
costume,  and  surrounded  by  an  improvised  staff, 
assumed  all  the  state  he  could.  In  treating  v^dth 
Indians  haste  was  impossible,  nor  did  Frontenac 
desire  that  the  speech-making  should  begin  at 
once.  His  fort  was  hardly  more  than  begim, 
and  he  wished  the  Iroquois  to  see  how  swiftly 
and  how  well  the  French  could  build  defences. 
When  the  proceedings  opened  there  were  the 
usual  long  harangues,  followed  by  daily  negotia- 
tions between  the  Governor  and  the  Iroquois 
chiefs.  It  was  a  conspicuous  feature  of  Fronte- 
nac's  diplomacy  to  reward  the  friendly,  and  win 
over  malcontents  by  presents,  or  personal  atten- 
tion. Each  day  some  of  the  chiefs  dined  with 
the  Governor,  who  gave  them  the  food  they  hked, 
adapted  his  style  of  speech  to  their  ornate  and 
metephorical  language,  played  with  their  chil- 
dren, and  regretted,  through  the  interpreter  Le 
Moyne,  that  he  was  as  yet  unable  to  speak  their 
tongue.  Never  had  such  pleasant  flattery  been 
launched  at  the  head  of  an  Indian.  At  the  same 
time  Frontenac  did  not  fail  to  insist  upon  his 
power,  indeed,  upon  his  supremacy.     As  a  matter 


300  The  Governor — Frontenac 

of  fact  it  had  been  a  great  effort  to  make  all  this 
display  at  Cataraqui.  In  his  discourses,  however, 
he  laid  stress  upon  the  ease  with  which  he  had 
mounted  the  rapids,  and  launched  barges  with 
cannon  upon  Lake  Ontario.  The  sum  and  sub- 
stance of  all  his  harangues  was  this.  "I  am  your 
good,  kind  father,  loving  peace  and  shrinking 
from  war.  But  you  can  see  my  power,  and  I 
give  you  fair  warning.  If  you  choose  war,  you 
are  guilty  of  self-destruction;  your  fate  is  in  your 
own  hands." 

Apart  from  his  immediate  success  in  building 
a  fort  at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Ontario,  under  the 
eyes  of  the  Iroquois  themselves,  Frontenac  profited 
greatly  by  entering  the  heart  of  the  Indian  world 
in  person.  He  was  able,  for  a  time  at  least,  to 
check  those  tribal  wars  of  the  Indians  which  inter- 
fered with  trade,  and  were  always  likely  to  drag 
in  the  colonists.  He  gave  open  proof  to  the  French 
of  resourcefulness.  He  gained  much  information 
at  first  hand  about  the  pays  d'en  haul.  But  none 
of  these  matters  concerns  us  so  much,  at  this 
moment,  as  the  bearing  of  the  Cataraqui  confer- 
ence upon  Frontenac's  own  disposition.  It  shows 
him  to  have  been  gifted  by  nature  with  just  the 
qualities  that  were  needed  in  dealing  with  the 
North  American  Indian — firmness,  good  humour, 
and  dramatic  talent. 

In  taking  up  the  duties  of  governor,  Frontenac 
was  favoured  by  circumstances.  For  two  years 
after  he  reached  Quebec,  he  was  the  one  great 
man  in  Canada.  I  am  not  forgetting  that  Talon 
had  not  yet  gone  back  to  France,  but  his  applica- 


The  Governor — Frontenac  301 

tion  for  leave  to  return  had  been  granted  months 
before  Frontenac's  arrival.  He  felt  that  his  term 
of  ofnce  was  over,  and  had  no  wish  to  assert 
himself,  still  less  to  make  trouble,  during  the  few 
days  which  remained.  Hence  he  was  politically 
negligible,  and  no  other  intendant  had  been  named 
to  replace  him.  It  is  certain  that  he  and  Fron- 
tenac, arriving  simultaneously  in  Canada,  would 
have  quarrelled  as  to  who  should  be  the  ruling 
spirit  in  the  Sovereign  Council.  Talon,  the  Inten- 
dant, had  held  first  place  there  during  his  term 
of  office.  Frontenac,  the  Governor,  in  spite  of 
spirited  opposition  at  times,  was  the  strong  man 
of  the  Council  in  his  day.  Had  they  been  liv- 
ing side  by  side  at  Quebec,  incessant  friction 
must  have  arisen  through  dispute  as  to  what 
powers  the  intendant  possessed  against  the  gov- 
ernor, and  the  governor  against  the  intendant. 
Happily  for  New  France,  each  of  these  men,  so 
useful  to  it  in  his  own  way,  had  his  own  period 
of  ascendency.  Frontenac  enjoyed  a  great  advan- 
tage from  inheriting  the  fruits  of  Talon's  activity. 
The  revival,  or  rather  the  birth,  of  confidence, 
the  improvement  of  trade,  the  upbuilding  of 
manufactures,  all  antedate  1672.  It  proved  most 
fortunate  for  Frontenac  that  he  could  stand  on 
Talon's  shoulders,  and  was  not  forced  to  have 
him  as  a  natural  adversary. 

In  another  respect  circumstances  favoured  the 
ambitions  of  the  new  governor.  Not  only  was 
Talon  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  when  Frontenac 
arrived,  but  Laval  was  away  in  France,  whence 
he  did  not  return  for  three  years.     It  is  true  that 


302  The  Governor — Frontenac  \ 

some  trouble  arose  between  the  Governor  and  the 
clergy  before  1675,  but  it  was  slight  in  comparison 
with  the  discords  which  followed  Laval's  return. 
Frontenac,  one  must  be  sure  to  point  out,  was  a 
good  Catholic.  No  one  has  ever  credited  him 
with  extreme  fervour,  but  his  orthodoxy  stood 
above  reproach,  and  doubtless  he  was  as  religious  I 
as  a  man  of  his  temperament  could  be.  Judged 
solely  by  his  relations  with  the  Recollets,  Fronte- 
nac was  a  sincere  friend  of  the  Church.  He  cher- 
ished these  Franciscans  who,  in  his  eyes,  had  the 
virtue  of  keeping  well  within  the  frontier  of  reli- 
gion. Among  the  Recollet  historians  Frontenac 
finds  warm  friends.  They  praised  him  loudly 
during  his  lifetime,  and  did  not  forget  him  when 
he  was  gone.  The  Governor  himself  would  have 
denied  that  he  opposed  the  Church.  Considered 
from  his  standpoint,  the  ecclesiastical  disputes  of 
his  regime  were  simply  caused  by  his  resolve  to 
check  the  political  encroachments  of  the  Jesuits 
and  their  friend,  the  Bishop. 

In  part,  Frontenac' s  attitude  towards  the  Jes- 
uits is  traceable  to  that  spirit  of  Gallicanism  which 
made  so  much  headway  in  France  during  the 
early  years  of  Louis  XIV.  Colbert,  and  all  the 
official  class,  suspected  the  Jesuits  of  a  desire  to 
poach,  in  the  name  of  rehgion,  upon  the  sacred 
preserves  of  royal  prerogative.  When  Talon  came 
to  Canada,  his  orders  were  to  watch  the  Jesuits 
and  keep  them  from  waxing  great  at  the  Crown's 
expense.  Frontenac,  also,  received  a  direct  moni- 
tion on  this  subject,  but  he  was  far  more  anxious 
than   Talon   to    cut    a    figure    before    the    world. 


i 


The  Governor — Frontenac  303 


The  king's  majesty,  for  Canada  at  least,  meant 
the  supreme  dignity  of  that  king's  delegate — 
to  wit,  Frontenac.  Thus  of  his  own  accord 
he  determined,  immediately  after  his  arrival 
in  Canada,  to  hold  an  assembly  of  the  Three 
Estates — Clergy,  Nobles,  and  Commons.  He  had 
no  trouble  in  finding  representatives  of  clergy  and 
commons,  and  though  nobles  were  very  scarce 
in  the  colony,  he  finally  discovered  a  few  gentle- 
men who  could  be  made  to  serve  in  that  capacity. 
I  cite  this  gathering  of  the  Three  Estates  as  a  sign 
of  Frontenac's  spirit.  Colbert  had  not  instructed 
him  to  summon  any  such  body.  On  the  contrary, 
he  met  the  news  with  a  reprimand.  But  Frontenac 
felt  that  he  would  be  acting  like  a  great  provincial 
governor  at  home  if,  when  he  assumed  office,  he 
had  deputies  from  the  Three  Estates  to  greet  him. 
Quite  apart,  however,  from  any  leaning  towards 
Gallicanism,  the  Governor's  attitude  towards  the 
Jesuits  was  affected  by  the  fact  that  he  found 
them  to  a  considerable  extent  independent  of 
his  own  pleasure  or  displeasure.  It  is  so  easy 
for  us  to  deceive  ourselves.  Frontenac  may  have 
believed  that  in  a  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  he  was 
fighting  to  safeguard  the  king's  majesty  and  power. 
But  his  strong  love  of  authority  doubtless  led  him 
to  find  fault  with  a  body  which  had  a  position 
so  assured  that  in  the  past  it  had  made  and  un- 
made governors.  Thus  he  reached  Quebec  at 
the  close  of  August,  1672.  On  November  2  he 
writes  to  Colbert  in  terms  of  complaint  about  the 
ascendency  of  the  Jesuits.  He  accuses  them  of 
having    spies    everywhere,    of    intermeddling    with 


304  The  Governor — Frontenac 

families,  of  setting  wives  against  husbands  and 
children  against  parents.  "All  of  which,"  he  adds 
satirically,  "they  do  for  the  greater  glory  of  God." 

Apart  from  general  prepossessions  against  this 
most  powerful  of  the  religious  orders,  Frontenac 
found  during  the  first  months  of  his  regime  two 
special  grounds  of  accusation.  In  his  own  pres- 
ence one  of  the  Jesuit  preachers  had  declared 
that  the  king  was  going  beyond  his  rights  in  licens- 
ing the  brandy  trade,  when  the  bishop  had  said 
it  was  a  sin.  To  be  sure,  the  Governor  makes  a 
certain  admission.  As  soon  as  he  complained  to  the 
Superior  of  the  Jesuits,  an  apology  for  the  sermon 
was  offered,  but  it  is  clear  from  Frontenac' s  lan- 
guage that  he  thought  it  insincere.  His  second 
cause  of  complaint  related  to  the  attitude  of  the 
Jesuits  towards  the  Indians.  The  king,  Colbert, 
and  Frontenac,  all  wished  to  have  the  savages 
learn  French  in  the  hope  of  making  them  more 
faithful  subjects.  The  Jesuits,  looking  at  the  mat- 
ter from  a  spiritual  rather  than  from  a  political 
standpoint,  feared  with  good  reason  to  have  the 
morals  of  their  converts  corrupted  by  contact 
with  the  vices  of  civilisation.  Here  again  the 
Governor  does  not  shrink  from  the  use  of  harsh 
language  in  his  reports  to  Colbert.  ''  The  Jesuits," 
he  says,  "will  not  civilise  the  Indians,  because 
they  wish  to  keep  them  in  perpetual  wardship. 
They  think  more  of  beaver  skins  than  of  souls, 
and  their  missions  are  pure  mockeries." 

During  the  first  three  years  of  Frontenac's 
residence  in  Canada,  there  was  incipient  trouble 
between  him  and  the  clergy,  arising  in   the  way 


The  Governor — Frontenac  305 

that  has  just  been  indicated.  But  discord  did 
not  become  acute  for  nearly  three  years,  or  until 
after  Laval's  return,  and  the  coming  of  Talon's 
successor,  the  Intendant  Duchesneau.  In  the  com- 
bination of  forces,  Frontenac,  with  a  certain  amount 
of  moral  support  from  the  RecoUets,  was  opposed 
to  Laval,  Duchesneau,  and  the  Jesuits.  Amid  the 
incessant  quarrels  of  the  next  seven  years,  two 
matters  were  being  confused — the  antagonism  of 
Frontenac  towards  what  he  held  to  be  ecclesias- 
tical encroachment  upon  the  sphere  of  the  state, 
and  bickerings  between  him  and  Duchesneau  as 
to  their  respective  powers.  Among  the  immediate 
causes  of  conflict,  some  were  old,  hke  the  brandy 
question  and  the  matter  of  precedence  in  church, 
while  others  were  new,  such  as  the  warfare  against 
coureurs  de  hois  and  tl  e  reconstitution  of  the 
Sovereign  Council.  If  we  were  casting  about  for 
historical  analogies,  we  should  find  that  the  dis- 
putes between  Frontenac  and  Duchesneau  antici- 
pate those  of  Warren  Hastings  and  Sir  PhiUp 
Francis  in  India. 

How  paralysing  to  administration  were  these 
disputes,  how  subversive  of  discipline  throughout 
the  colony,  can  be  seen  at  a  glance.  In  the  Sov- 
ereign Council  forces  were  fairly  evenly  divided. 
In  other  words  a  deadlock  was  always  imminent, 
especially  after  the  autumn  ships  had  sailed  for 
France,  and  Quebec  was  cut  off  for  many  months 
from  contact  with  the  Court.  During  the  winter 
both  Governor  and  Intendant  occupied  themselves 
with  writing  endless  letters  to  Colbert,  in  which 
each   accused   the   other   of   the   most   scandalous 


306  The  Governor — Frontenac 

practices.  Illicit  trade  bulked  very  large  in  these 
mutual  complaints.  Duchesneau  even  charged 
Frontenac  with  spreading  the  report  among  the 
Indians  of  the  Great  Lakes  that  a  pestilence  had 
broken  out  in  Montreal.  Hence  the  Governor's 
private  agents  among  the  coureurs  de  hois  were 
enabled  to  buy  up  beaver  skins  cheaply,  afterwards 
selling  them  on  his  account  to  the  English.  Fron- 
tenac rejoined  by  accusing  the  Intendant  of  having 
his  own  warehouses  at  Montreal  and  along  the 
Lower  St.  Lawrence,  of  being  truculent,  a  slave 
to  the  Bishop,  and  incompetent.  But  back  of 
Duchesneau,  Frontenac  constantly  keeps  saying, 
are  the  Jesuits  and  the  Bishop,  from  whom  the 
spirit  of  faction  really  springs.  One  of  his  most 
frequent  charges  is  that  the  Jesuit  missions  are 
trading  posts  rather  than  centres  of  Christianity. 
Among  many  of  these  tirades,  the  most  elaborate 
is  the  long  memorial  sent  by  Frontenac  to  Colbert 
in  1677,  on  the  general  state  of  Canada.  Here  are 
some  of  the  items  which  occur  in  this  document. 
The  Jesuits  keep  spies  in  Frontenac's  own  house. 
The  Bishop  says  he  has  the  power  to  excommuni- 
cate the  Governor  if  necessary.  The  Jesuit  mis- 
sionaries tell  the  Iroquois  they  are  equal  to  Onontio. 
Other  charges  are  that  the  Jesuits  meddle  in  all 
civil  affairs,  that  their  revenues  are  enormous  in 
proportion  to  the  poverty  of  the  country,  and 
that  they  are  bound  to  domineer  at  whatever  cost. 
When  we  consider  how  Canada  from  end  to  end 
was  affected  by  these  disputes,  it  seems  strange 
that  Colbert  and  the  King  should  have  let  them 
rage  so  long.     By   1682   the   state  of  things   had 


The  Governor — Frontenac  307 

become  unbearable.  Partisans  of  Frontenac  and 
Duchesneau  attacked  each  other  in  the  streets. 
Duchesneau  accused  Frontenac  of  having  struck 
the  young  Duchesneau,  aged  sixteen,  and  torn 
the  sleeve  of  his  jacket.  He  also  declared  it 
necessary  to  barricade  his  house.  Frontenac 
retorted  by  saying  that  these  were  gross  libels. 
With  matters  at  such  a  pass  Colbert  rightly 
thought  the  time  had  come  to  take  decisive  action. 
Three  alternatives  were  open  to  him.  The  Bishop 
and  the  Jesuits,  who  came  into  the  matter  as 
belligerents,  he  could  not  recall.  But  both  the 
Governor  and  the  Intendant  stood  within  his 
power.  One  alternative  was  to  dismiss  Frontenac; 
another,  to  dismiss  Duchesneau.  What  Colbert 
actually  did  was  to  choose  the  third  course  and 
dismiss  them  both. 

Frontenac,  at  the  time  of  his  recall,  had  been 
in  Canada  ten  years.  That  he  had  made  many 
enemies  in  the  higher  circles  of  society  is  very  plain. 
Not  only  was  Duchesneau  his  opponent,  not  only 
were  the  Jesuits  hostile  to  him,  as  he  to  them,  but 
the  Sulpicians  of  Montreal  had  discovered  grounds 
of  grievance  in  many  of  his  acts.*  In  the  Sover- 
eign Council  the  clergy,  both  Jesuit  and  Sulpician, 
found  champions  enough  among  the  laity  to  give 
the  Governor  endless  trouble  over  matters  which 
did  not  directly  touch  the  Church.  On  the  other 
hand,  Frontenac  had  been  successful  past  all 
precedent  in  his  dealings  with  the  Indians.     Inside 

*  Much  resentment  was  felt  by  the  Sulpicians  at  Frontenac 's 
action  in  imprisoning  Perrot,  whom  they  had  appointed  Gov- 
ernor of  Montreal. 


308  The  Governor — Frontenac 

the  colony  itself,  though  his  deadlock  with  Duches- 
neau  had  dislocated  the  routine  of  government, 
there  was  no  one  who  did  not  feel  the  force  of  his 
character.  I  think  I  can  bring  out  the  feeUng 
entertained  towards  him  in  Canada,  by  quoting 
the  words  with  which  Mr.  W.  F.  Lord  closes  his 
life  of  Sir  Thomas  Maitland.  "To  many  the 
name  of  'King  Tom'  will  always  be  anathema 
maranatha;  but  the  rest  of  us  will  say,  may  Eng- 
land never  want  for  Maitlands  at  a  pinch."  Like- 
wise when  Frontenac  sailed  away,  almost  all  the 
clergy  save  the  Recollets  were  glad,  but  the  mass 
of  the  population  must  have  felt  that  at  a  pinch 
the  man  they  wanted  for  leader  was  the  Onontio 
to  whom  the  Iroquois  had  bowed  in  tame  sub- 
mission. 

Eight  years  afterwards  Frontenac  came  back. 
He  was  then  seventy,  the  age  at  which  Moltke 
entered  the  Franco-German  war.  A  surprisingly 
large  number  of  men  have  reached  their  highest 
level  of  attainment  after  fifty,  but  for  a  soldier 
to  win  his  brightest  laurels  after  seventy  is  most 
exceptional.  Frontenac  owes  his  chief  fame  to 
what  he  achieved  between  the  ages  of  seventy 
and  seventy-eight.  Even  cutting  off  twenty  years, 
it  would  have  been  unusual  to  restore  him  to  the 
post  from  which  he  had  been  recalled  in  half  dis- 
grace. Yet  at  a  time  of  desperate  need  he  was 
sent  back  to  Canada  in  his  seventy-first  year. 
Under  the  circumstances  this  reappointment  is  a 
sufficient  proof  of  the  effect  which  his  highest 
qualities  had  produced  upon  the  royal  mind. 

The  events  of  the  interval  between  Frontenac's 


The  Governor — Frontenac 


309 


two  terms  of  office  must  be  passed  over  rapidly. 
On  his  recall  in  1682  there  had  been  sent  to  New 
France,  as  governor,  a  soldier  of  much  experience 
and  some  standing,  named  La  Barre.  But  never 
was  a  man  of  less  insight  employed  by  the  king 
of  France  to  administer  his  American  possessions. 
With  the  Indians  he  made  a  complete  failure. 
This,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  just  the  time 
when  the  English  in  New  York,  under  Governor 
Dongan,  were  beginning  to  shape  an  aggressive 
policy  against  their  northern  neighbours.  Nine- 
teen years  after  Tracy's  march  against  the  Mo- 
hawks, the  Iroquois  had  forgotten  what  they 
suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  Carignan  Regiment. 
The  young  braves,  who  had  only  seen  war  against 
the  Illinois,  clamoured  for  an  attack  upon  the 
ancient  enemy.  The  English  with  their  strong 
outpost  at  Albany  were  always  ready  to  supply 
arms,  and  to  point  out  the  growing  weakness  of 
the  French.  From  many  sources  La  Barre  learned 
that  in  the  Indian  world  there  was  unrest.  But 
to  cope  with  the  Five  Nations  was  beyond  his 
power.  Not  that  the  resources  of  Canada  were 
inadequate.  The  colony  had  never  been  so  strong, 
and  never  more  ready  for  action.  Unfortunately 
La  Barre  seems  to  have  feared  the  Indians  and 
misjudged  them.  He  indulged  in  a  show  of  blus- 
ter which  could  hardly  have  deceived  the  Micmacs, 
let  alone  the  Senecas  and  Mohawks.  The  details 
of  his  advance  to  Fort  Frontenac,  and  of  his  utter 
failure  there,  we  must  pass  by.  The  substance 
of  La  Barre' s  administration  is  this.  He  became 
an  object  of  contempt   to  the  Iroquois;    his  col- 


3IO  The  Governor — Frontenac 

league,  the  Intendant  MeuUes,  dishked  and  de- 
nounced him;  the  colony  of  Canada  stagnated 
under  his  care;  and  after  two  years  of  office  he 
was  suddenly  recalled. 

Denonville,  La  Barre's  successor,  remained 
longer  in  Canada  and,  perhaps  for  that  reason, 
did  more  damage.  In  his  day  the  Iroquois  peril 
reached  its  height,  and  at  the  same  time  the  situa- 
tion was  complicated  by  the  appearance  of  a 
more  open  mood  of  antagonism  among  the  Eng- 
lish. When  Frontenac  returned  in  1689,  Canada 
was  completely  demoralised  by  the  Lachine  Mas- 
sacre (which  represents  the  most  signal  triumph 
ever  won  by  the  Iroquois  over  the  French),  and 
by  the  danger  threatening  from  the  English.  The 
crisis  required  no  mere  bluffer  hke  La  Barre,  no 
mere  trickster  like  Denonville;  but  a  strong  man 
whose  judgment  was  not  clouded  by  conceit  and 
self-will,  even  though  these  might  be  his  besetting 
sins. 

I  shall  not  attempt  to  justify  the  methods 
which  Frontenac  used  during  his  second  term, 
but  certain  things  must  be  kept  in  mind.  When 
he  returned  Canada  stood  on  the  verge  of  destruc- 
tion. A  population  still  scanty  was  committed 
to  the  defence  of  a  vast  frontier  against  both  sav- 
ages and  Enghsh.  From  the  Atlantic,  Enghsh 
warships  threatened  the  ports  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
while  the  frontiersmen  of  Massachusetts,  Connecti- 
cut, and  New  York  were  certain  to  co-operate 
with  the  home  forces  by  a  northward  march. 
Frontenac  knew  the  Indian  nature  from  its  sur- 
face  to   its   depths,   and   the    policy    he    adopted 


The  Governor — Frontenac  311 

was  the  one  best  calculated  to  save  Canada  from 
destruction.  How  the  three  war  parties  were 
organised  in  Montreal,  Quebec,  and  Three  Rivers, 
need  not  be  retold.  The  ghastly  atrocities  which 
marked  the  capture  of  Pemaquid,  Casco  Bay,  Sal- 
mon Falls,  and  Schenectady,  are  fit  food  for  the 
moraUst  who  mourns  man's  inhumanity  to  man. 
But  they  saved  the  day,  and  if  Frontenac  was  not 
scrupulous  about  means,  he  was  fighting  with  his 
back  to  the  wall.  Parkman  is  among  the  descend- 
ants of  those  into  whose  homes  he  carried  lire 
and  sword,  and  for  this  reason  I  cite  the  following 
passage:  "What,"  says  Parkman,  "perhaps  may 
be  least  forgiven  him  is  the  barbarity  of  the  war- 
fare that  he  waged,  and  the  cruelties  he  permitted. 
He  had  seen  too  many  towns  sacked  to  be  much 
subject  to  the  scruples  of  modern  humanitarianism; 
yet  he  was  no  whit  more  ruthless  than  his  times 
and  his  surroundings,  and  some  of  his  contem- 
poraries find  fault  with  him  for  not  allowing  more 
Indian  captives  to  be  tortured.  Many  surpassed 
him  in  cruelty;  none  equalled  him  in  capacity  and 
vigour.  When  civihsed  enemies  were  once  within 
his  power,  he  treated  them  according  to  their 
degree,  with  a  chivalrous  courtesy  or  a  generous 
kindness.  ...  A  more  remarkable  figure,  in  its 
bold  and  sahent  individuahty,  and  sharply  marked 
hght  and  shadow,  is  nowhere  seen  in  American 
history." 

Frontenac  appears  to  the  best  advantage  when 
defending  Quebec  against  the  fleet  of  Sir  William 
Phips  in  1690.  At  some  points  this  siege  recalls 
Pepperell's  attack  upon  Louisbourg,  and  at  others. 


3 1  2  The  Governor — Frontenac 

the  great  duel  of  Montcalm  and  Wolfe  in  1759. 
Like  Pepperell,  Phips  commanded  a  band  of  New 
England  militiamen,  and  thus  the  attack  of  1690 
may  be  said  to  represent  the  first  attempt  of  the 
Bastonnais  to  subdue  New  France  by  water.* 
The  events  of  1759  are  anticipated  by  the  way  in 
which  Phips  conducted  his  campaign.  His  first 
attempt  was  a  landing  on  the  Beauport  shore, 
not  far  above  the  spot  where  Wolfe  met  his  repulse. 
And  more  interesting  still,  there  is  definite  evi- 
dence to  show  that  the  English  received  infor- 
mation regarding  the  precise  spot  at  the  Anse  de 
Foulon  where  Wolfe  landed,  and  from  which  he 
made  his  ascent.  Frontenac  throughout  the  whole 
attack  displayed  promptitude,  foresight,  and  cau- 
tion. Some  regulars  were  engaged,  but  on  the 
French  side  the  honours  of  the  fight  belong  chiefly 
to  three  brothers  from  Montreal — Ste.  Helene, 
Bienville,  and  Longueuil,  the  sons  of  Charles  Le 
Moyne.  Sir  Clements  Markham  has  written  a 
book  on  The  Fighting  Veres.  It  is  time  for 
some  Canadian  to  write  a  book  on  The  Fighting 
Le  Moynes.  At  Quebec  Ste.  Helene  was  killed, 
and  Longueuil  severely  wounded.  D' Iberville,  the 
greatest  of  them  all,  was  occupied  elsewhere. 

Phips' s  repulse,  and  the  three  war  parties,  gave 
Canada  a  breathing  space.  John  Schuyler  might 
attack  Laprairie  in  1690,  and  Peter  Schuyler  return 
to  the  charge  in  1691,  but  Frontenac  proved  quite 
able  to  drive  off  all  assailants,  whether  by  land 
or  sea.     Some  idea  of  the  havoc  wrought  among 

♦The   French   Canadians    called    Boston   Basknt,   and   em- 
ployed Bastonnais  as  a  generic  term  for  New-Englanders. 


The  Governor — Frontenac  313 

the  Iroquois  by  his  spirited  conduct  of  the  war 
may  be  gathered  from  this  single  fact.  During 
the  eleven  years  between  his  resumption  of  office  and 
the  time  when  his  successor  De  Callieres  renewed 
the  peace  with  them,  they  had  lost  half  their  braves. 
Thenceforth  to  the  end  of  the  Old  Regime  the 
Five  Nations  were  never  a  menace  to  the  existence 
of  Canada.  Now  and  then,  in  fact,  one  finds  them 
fighting  on  the  French  side.  Having  driven  off 
both  English  and  Iroquois,  Frontenac  could  feel 
that  he  had  brought  his  people  from  the  brink  of 
ruin  to  honour  and  security.  The  Chateau  St. 
Louis  was  a  very  different  sort  of  citadel  during 
his  last  years,  from  what  it  had  been  in  the  days 
of  La  Barre  and  Denonville.  Here  he  died  in  i6g8, 
having  received  last  unction  from  the  hands  of  a 
Recollet,  Father  Goyer. 

If  in  this  chapter  I  have  left  many  of  Fronte- 
nac's  deeds  untouched,  it  is  partly  because,  before 
closing,  I  wish  to  make  a  few  general  observations. 
Art,  according  to  one  definition,  is  selection,  and 
History  is  so  far  an  art  that  the  very  essence  of 
it  is  a  choice  between  what  is  more  and  what  is 
less  important.  To  register  all  the  facts  of  Cana- 
dian history  in  a  short  book  is  plainly  impossible. 
One  must  accept  limitations,  take  what  seems 
essential,  and  throw  away  the  rest.  Now,  in  all 
the  archives  of  the  past  it  is  the  human  document 
which  is  the  most  valuable.  Institutions  man 
frames  for  his  convenience,  but  they  exist  only 
for  the  convenience  of  man.  The  human  being 
stands  out,  or  should  be  made  to  stand  out,  from 


314  The  Governor — Frontenac 

the  background  of  the  past  in  high  rehef.  We 
must  know  under  what  circumstances  he  acts, 
what  are  his  inherited  ideas,  what  are  the  helps 
offered  him  by  nature,  or  the  hindrances  which 
nature  places  in  his  way.  Whatever  else  History 
may  mean  to  us — whether  it  be  a  science  or  an 
art — let  us  cling  fast  to  the  central  idea  that  it 
deals  with  actual  people,  who  should  be  as  clearly 
imaged  to  our  minds  as  those  we  know  to- 
day. 

One  cannot  hope  to  have  made  Champlain 
and  Brebeuf,  D' Iberville  and  Laval,  Talon  and 
Frontenac,  very  wfeU  known  in  the  little  time  we 
have  devoted  to  their  careers.  For  us  they  have 
been  not  merely  individuals,  but  types,  repre- 
senting more  or  less  adequately  many  besides 
themselves.  Yet  I  shall  have  failed  utterly  if  I 
have  not  dispelled  the  idea  that  the  Frenchman 
who  founded  European  life  in  Canada  was,  as 
A.  G.  Bradley  calls  him,  "a  slave."  Circum- 
stances have  for  centuries  thrown  French  and 
English  into  different  camps,  and  the  prejudices 
sprung  from  conflict  do  not  readily  disappear. 
It  would  be  scandalous  to  mention  the  name 
which  the  French  gave  the  English  common  soldier 
in  the  era  of  Joan  of  Arc.  But  the  term  in  ques- 
tion, shocking  though  it  is,  was  simply  the  oath 
which  was  commonest  in  use  among  the  English 
soldiery  of  that  time.  More  recently  the  English 
have  retaliated  by  referring  to  breach  of  parole 
as  French  leave ^  while  the  French,  in  their  turn, 
have  invented  an  equivalent  expression  and  turned 
it  against  the  English.     The  days,  however,  when 


The  Governor — Frontenac  3 1 5 

Nelson  told  his  middies  to  hate  the  French  as  they 
hated  the  devil,  are  over,  for  the  present  at  least. 
No  one  can  open  the  Times  without  seeing 
illustrations  of  that  friendliness  which  has  sprung 
out  of  the  entente  cordiale.  English  Chambers  of 
Commerce  send  their  delegates  to  Lyons  and 
Bordeaux.  French  prefects  are  banqueted  at  the 
Guildhall.  Naval  reviews  abound,  and  it  has 
been  thought  timely  to  revive  the  Channel 
Tunnel.  Political  prophecy,  as  Mr.  Bryce  tells 
us,  is  the  most  dangerous  of  pastimes,  but 
we  must  at  least  hope  that  the  present  good 
feeling  between  England  and  France  has  its 
root  in  something  more  permanent  than  political 
expediency. 

In  Canada  the  European  relations  of  French 
and  Enghsh,  though  interesting,  are  not  essential. 
Siegfried  speaks  of  the  French  in  Canada  as  having 
been  cut  off  from  the  main  body  of  their  race  by 
history  and  circumstance.  They  have  indeed  been 
cut  off,  and  the  schism  means  much  more  than 
any  one  can  tell  who  has  not  studied  closely  the 
events  of  the  last  hundred  years.  The  French 
Canadians  set  store  by  their  ancestry,  but  their 
chief  pride  centres  in  their  own  achievements 
wrought  on  American  soil.  It  seems  to  me  a 
thousand  pities  that  of  EngHsh  Canadians  not  one 
in  ten  understands  the  sentiments  and  aspirations 
of  French  Canada.  Whether  or  not  the  man  of 
Gait  or  Woodstock  sympathises  with  his  fellow- 
citizen  of  Chambly  or  Riviere  du  Loup,  he  ought 
to  understand  from  first-hand  knowledge  why 
the    habitant    thinks,   feels,   and  acts  as  he   does. 


316  The  Governor — Frontenac 

The  passage  from  Chapais'  Talon,  in  which 
occurs  that  outburst  regarding  the  invincible 
vitahty  of  French  Canada  and  its  advance  along 
the  way  prepared  for  it  by  Providence,  reveals 
a  state  of  mind  that  it  is  ridiculous  to  ignore,  or 
make  light  of.  M.  Suite's  Histoire  des  Franfuis- 
Canadiens  and  the  speeches  of  M.  Bourassa  are 
further  illustrations  of  a  mood  which  we  should 
know  the  causes  of,  even  though  the  phenomenon 
may  seem  an  obstacle  to  the  accomplishment 
of  certain  political  ideals.  The  French  Canadian 
loves  this  land  because  he  has  taken  root  in  it. 
He  feels  that  his  ancestors  fought  the  savage  and 
tamed  the  wilderness,  without  much  help  from 
outside.  His  face  is  not  set  toward  France, 
nor,  so  far  as  I  can  make  out,  is  it  set  toward 
Europe  at  all — save  in  matters  of  religion.  Mme. 
Hebert,  the  wife  of  the  first  genuine  colonist, 
declined  to  take  her  children  back  to  France  when 
Quebec  fell  before  the  English  in  1629.  She  had 
fixed  her  fortunes  in  the  New  World  and  meant 
to  remain.  There  is  something  symbolical  in 
this. 

Retentive  of  the  soil  and  narrowing  their 
political  outlook  to  the  affairs  of  tliis  country, 
what  has  been  the  position  of  French  Canadians 
since  1760?  Obviously  it  is  impossible  to  form 
any  general  statement  which  will  reconcile  the 
views  expressed  freely  by  the  individuals  who 
form  a  large  community.  But  some  considera- 
tions stand  out  so  clearly  as  not  to  be  mistaken. 
Among  these  is  the  solid  advantage  which  French 
Canada   has   derived   from    the    overthrow    of   the 


The  Governor — Frontenac  3 1 7 

government  that  prevailed  when  Admiral  Saun- 
ders and  General  Wolfe  first  came  in  sight  of  Que- 
bec. At  the  close  of  the  Inferno^  Dante  explains 
how  he  was  able  to  escape  from  the  bottom  of 
the  pit,  and  reach  the  entrance  of  Purgatory. 
Grasping  the  waist  of  Lucifer  he  turned  suddenly 
about,  and  thence  began  the  ascent  which  led 
him  from  the  lowest  depths  of  Hell  to  the  mount 
of  purifying  penance.  The  force  of  the  allegory 
is  that  only  by  grapphng  with  uttermost  evil 
can  man  rise  to  salvation. 

Applying  this  figure  to  politics,  the  French  of 
Canada  in  1759  and  1760  grappled  with  the  worst 
fortune  that  can  exist  for  a  proud  and  self-respect- 
ing people.  That  is,  they  lost  the  battle  which  they 
were  fighting  against  an  ancient  foe,  and  were  torn 
from  their  old  allegiance.  Yet  this  descent  to  the 
bottom  of  the  pit,  trying  though  it  proved  to  the 
followers  of  Levis,  placed  them  and  their  descend- 
ants upon  what  was,  in  politics  at  least,  the 
upward  path.  The  conquered  must  always  go 
under  some  kind  of  a  yoke,  if  it  be  only  the  smart 
of  defeat.  But  in  all  the  history  of  mankind  I 
doubt  whether  you  will  find  a  lighter  yoke  than 
that  which  the  French  Canadians  were  asked  to 
wear  in  the  days  of  General  Murray  and  Sir  Guy 
Carleton.  We  all  know  how  Murray,  by  his  mild- 
ness towards  the  vanquished,  infuriated  the  English 
Canadians,  then  hardly  more  than  three  or  four 
hundred  as  against  sixty-five  thousand  of  the 
French.  Less  famous  but  even  more  interesting 
is  the  correspondence  of  Carleton  with  Lord  Shel- 
bume,  especially   the   letters   written   in  1767  and 


3 1 8  The  Governor — Frontenac 

1768.  From  1760  to  1775,  the  whole  of  America, 
to  the  north  of  the  Spanish  possessions,  was  in 
British  hands.  During  this  period,  when  the  people 
of  Massachusetts  and  the  people  of  Quebec  were 
fellow-subjects,  the  former  found  cause  for  bitter 
grief  in  the  generosity  of  the  terms  accorded  to  the 
fallen  French.  The  humane  dispositions  of  Sir  Guy 
Carleton  took  form  in  the  Quebec  Act,  to  the  dis- 
content of  many  in  New  England.  But  passing  by 
the  controversies  of  1774,  let  us  glance  for  a 
moment  at  the  sermon  delivered  by  Bishop  Plessis 
of  Quebec  on  January  loth,  1799. 

The  occasion  was  the  service  of  thanksgiving 
held  to  commemorate  the  Battle  of  the  Nile.  Nel- 
son for  destroying  a  French  fleet  is  applauded 
in  the  Cathedral  of  Quebec  by  a  prelate  of  the 
Canadian  Church,  whose  loftiness  of  character 
prevented  him  from  speaking  mere  phrases.  "God 
forbid,"  says  Plessis,  "that  I  should  profane  the 
sanctity  of  this  place  by  base  adulation  or  plaudits 
that  have  their  roots  in  selfish  interest.  I  only 
bear  witness  to  what  truth  and  gratitude  demand, 
nor  do  I  fear  contradiction  from  any  who  know 
the  spirit  of  the  British  government.  A  wise 
moderation  presides  over  its  actions.  In  its  steady 
march  there  is  no  haste,  no  empty  ecstasy,  no 
headlong  love  of  change.  What  care  has  it  not 
taken  to  safeguard  the  property  of  its  subjects? 
What  effort  and  ability  has  it  not  put  forth  to 
render  the  cost  of  government  the  Hghtest  of  bur- 
dens? Have  you  even  heard  in  the  forty  years 
which  have  elapsed  since  the  Conquest,  of  those 
taxes    or    those    imposts    under    which    so    many 


The  Governor — Frontenac  319 

nations  groan,  of  those  arbitrary  demands  for 
vast  sums  which  an  unjust  victor  would  impose 
upon  the  vanquished?  Have  you  ever  been  re- 
duced through  the  fault  of  the  present  govern- 
ment to  those  famines  which  formerly  afflicted 
the  colony,  and  which  are  still  remembered  with 
horror?  Have  you  since  the  Conquest  been  sub- 
jected to  military  service?  Have  you  paid  a 
single  sou  toward  the  cost  of  the  war  that  Great 
Britain  has  carried  on  for  the  last  six  years? 
Almost  the  whole  of  Europe  is  now  given  up  to 
fire,  sword,  and  carnage.  Do  you  not  see  this, 
and  also  that  in  the  midst  of  war  you  enjoy  all 
the  advantages  of  peace?  To  whom,  after  God, 
are  you,  my  brothers,  indebted  for  these  favours 
if  not  to  the  vigilance  of  an  empire  which  in  peace 
as  in  war  has  at  heart  your  interest  even  more 
than  its  own?  What  return  do  all  these  benefits 
demand  from  us — a  lively  sentiment  of  gratitude 
toward  Great  Britain;  an  ardent  desire  never 
to  be  separated  from  her;  a  deep  behef  that  her 
interests  are  not  different  from  ours;  that  our 
happiness  is  bound  up  in  hers;  and  that  if  some- 
times we  have  had  to  mourn  her  losses,  we  should 
rejoice  in  the  day  of  her  glory,  and  look  upon  her 
last  victory  as  an  event  no  less  consoling  to  us 
than  glorious  for  her." 

Doubtless  Bishop  Plessis  was  scandalised  at 
the  excesses  and  atheism  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tionists, but  it  is  not  for  these  reasons  alone  that 
he  speaks  in  the  words  which  have  been  quoted. 
He  is  convinced  that  the  new  political  institutions 
are  better  than  the  old.     He  so  far  admires  the 


320  The  Governor — Frontenac 

English  criminal  law  as  to  call  it  the  masterpiece 
of  human  intelligence.  In  a  word,  he  recognises 
the  soUd  advantage  which  was  gained  by  the 
French  Canadian  in  passing  from  the  Old  Regime 
to  the  New. 

It  is  quite  true  that  these  advantages  were 
less  appreciated  by  Louis  Joseph  Papineau  than 
by  Bishop  Plessis,  nor  if  we  have  responsible 
government  in  Canada  to-day  are  the  French  to 
be  denied  their  share  in  its  attainment.  Yet  no 
disinterested  Frenchman  can  fail  to  realise  how 
clearly  the  Battle  of  the  Plains  meant  for  him 
and  his  compatriots  the  career  open  to  talent. 
If  the  EngUsh  Canadian  must  be  on  his  guard 
against  thinking  that  the  habitant  of  the  Old 
Regime  was  a  slave,  the  French  Canadian  must 
likewise  refrain  from  idealising  too  much  the  days 
of  Talon,  DTberville,  and  Frontenac.  There  were 
heroes  and  patriots  in  that  age,  but  also  a  restric- 
tion of  opportunity,  a  wrong-headedness  of  method 
which  belonged  peculiarly  to  French  colonisa- 
tion. 

And  yet  it  is  so  hard  to  give  up  the  early  dreams 
of  racial  greatness!  The  Battle  of  the  Plains 
meant  the  knell  of  hope  for  that  Western  Empire 
which  Talon  and  La  Salle  had  seen  in  vision,  flour- 
ishing under  the  fieur  de  lis.  It  meant  the  triumph 
of  the  Bastonnais.  It  must  have  seemed  at  the 
moment  to  mean  that  all  the  brave  deeds  of  Dol- 
lard,  of  Hertel,  of  DTberville,  of  the  men  who  held 
the  fort  at  Carillon,  had  been  done  in  vain.  True, 
for  the  prophet  there  might  be  hope  of  a  fuller, 
richer  day.     But  we  shall  have  little  sympathy  or 


The  Governor — Frontenac  321 

imagination,  if,  when  we  read  the  story  of  Levis' 
surrender,  we  cannot  say: 

"I  honour  the  man  who  wins  the  prize 

The  world  has  cried  for  a  thousand  years, 

But  to  him  who  struggles  and  suffers  and  dies, 

I  give  great  glory  and  worship  and  tears." 


CHAPTER  X 
THE    WOMAN 

WERE  one  endeavouring  to  portray  the  life 
of  France  in  the  seventeenth  century,  femi- 
nine types  would  suggest  themselves  in  profusion: 
For  Regent,  Anne  of  Austria;  for  Politician,  Mme. 
de  Longueville;  for  Mystic,  Mme.  Guyon;  for  Court 
Favourite,  Mme.  de  Montespan;  for  Bluestocking, 
the  Marquise  de  Rambouillet;  for  Adventuress,  the 
Duchesse  de  Mazarin;  for  Criminal,  the  Marquise 
de  BrinviUiers.  And  this  is  but  a  small  selection, 
taken  from  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  If  the  whole 
century  be  included,  the  Ust  of  representative 
women   would   run   well  beyond   a   score. 

On  turning  to  Canada  during  the  same  period 
a  great  contrast  is  observable.  At  Montreal  there 
was  no  coterie  of  ladies  intellectual.  At  Quebec 
the  recriminations  of  Frontenac  and  Duchesneau 
did  not  spring  from  rivalry  in  love,  and  ran  their 
course  without  once  being  affected  by  feminine 
intrigue.  In  an  advanced,  diversified  society  the 
activities  of  women  seem  hardly  less  extensive 
than  those  of  men.  But  on  the  banks  of  the  St. 
Lawrence   the   social   organism   was   not   complex. 

Amidst  the  harsh,   relentless  poverty  which  then 

322 


The  Woman 


323 


prevailed,  the  woman  could  not  escape  from 
daily  toil  and  sordid  cares.  She  had  no  leisure 
for  the  improvement  of  her  mind.  To  expect  that 
she  should  write  like  Mme.  de  Sevigne,  or  paint 
like  Vigee  Le  Brun,  would  be  absurd.  Woman 
has  far  more  to  gain  than  man  through  the  embel- 
lishment of  life  by  art,  and  letters,  and  all  that 
we  call  culture.  But  these  things  were  not  for 
New  France.  It  was  in  point  of  fundamental 
virtues,  rather  than  of  polite  accomplishments, 
that  Canadian  women  proved  strong  during  the 
Old  Regime. 

One  child,  we  are  told,  takes  all  a  mother's 
time,  and  twelve  cannot  take  more.  If  this  were 
true,  the  French-Canadian  matron  would  have 
enjoyed  no  greater  leisure  during  the  eighteenth 
century  than  at  the  death  of  Champlain.  In  other 
words,  the  duties  which  remained  to  her  even 
after,  the  worst  pinch  of  hardship  was  over  must 
have  been  well-nigh  crushing.  But  into  any  care- 
ful calculation  the  question  of  degree  must  always 
enter,  and  some  women  undoubtedly  did  profit 
by  the  gradual  improvement  of  the  common  lot. 
To  the  last  New  France  remained  poor,  but  its 
poverty  became  less  acute  after  the  period  of 
Talon.  At  the  beginning  one  meets  with  few 
signs  of  worldliness  and  idle  mirth,  partly  because 
the  religious  motive  was  predominant,  and  partly 
because  temptations  to  seek  amusement  did  not 
exist.  The  coming  of  the  Carignan  Regiment, 
however,  introduced  an  element  of  change,  and 
within  a  century  from  the  founding  of  Quebec 
a   certain   part   of   the   community   did   not   shun 


324  The  Woman 

mundane  pleasures.  It  is  well  to  make  an  explicit 
statement  on  this  point,  for  though  most  women 
in  New  France  toiled  day  and  night  with  but  small 
share  of  gaiety,  the  disappearance  of  abject  want 
gave  some  the  means  of  providing  themselves  with 
linen  and  fine  raiment. 

Feminine  levity  in  New  France  reached  its 
height  at  Quebec  during  the  ascendency  of  Bigot 
— that  is  to  say,  in  the  last  days  of  the  Old  Regime. 
But  whatever  scandals  may  have  arisen  at  this 
time  were  limited  to  a  small  circle,  and  must  not 
be  deemed  typical  of  colonial  life  in  any  stage. 
If  a  ball  is  to  be  looked  on  as  unlawful  dissipation, 
there  were  undoubtedly  a  few  sinners.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  more  heinous  offences  contra  bonos 
mores  were  conspicuously  rare  even  in  the  eight- 
eenth century.  Perhaps  the  most  detached  and 
impartial  observer  who  described  Canadian  life 
at  the  close  of  the  French  period  was  the  Swedish 
naturalist,  Peter  Kalm.  In  the  summer  of  1749 
he  visited  Montreal,  Three  Rivers,  and  Quebec, 
taking  notes  wherever  he  went  and  making  it  a 
point  to  meet  the  most  important  people  of  the 
colony.  The  knowledge  which  can  only  come 
from  a  long  sojourn,  he  did  not  possess,  but  the 
first  impressions  of  an  intelligent  and  honest 
stranger  are  always  worth  a  good  deal.  For  this 
reason  we  shall  glance  at  what  Kalm  says  regard- 
ing Canadian  women.  At  Montreal  he  was 
received  by  the  Baron  de  Longueuil,  given  most 
generous  entertainment,  and,  to  use  his  own  words, 
"loaded  with  greater  favours  than  I  could  expect 
or  imagine."      Notwithstanding    the   cordiality  of 


The  Woman  325 

his  reception,  Kalm  tries  to  give  a  just  and  dis- 
criminating appreciation  of  what  he  sees. 

"The  difference,"  he  says,  "between  the  man- 
ners and  customs  of  the  French  in  Montreal  and 
Canada,  and  those  of  the  EngUsh  in  the  American 
colonies,  is  as  great  as  that  between  the  manners 
of  those  two  nations  in  Europe.  The  women  in 
general  are  handsome  here;  they  are  well  bred 
and  virtuous,  with  an  innocent  and  becoming 
freedom.  They  dress  out  very  fine  on  Sundays; 
and  though  on  the  other  days  they  do  not  take 
much  pains  with  the  rest  of  their  dress,  yet  they 
are  very  fond  of  adorning  their  heads,  the  hair 
of  which  is  always  curled  and  powdered,  and  orna- 
mented with  glittering  bodkins  and  aigrettes. 
Every  day  but  Sunday  they  wear  a  little  neat 
jacket,  and  a  short  petticoat  which  hardly  reaches 
half  the  leg,  and  in  this  particular  they  seem  to 
imitate  the  Indian  women.  The  heels  of  their 
shoes  are  high  and  very  narrow,  and  it  is  surpris- 
ing how  they  walk  on  them.  In  their  knowledge 
of  economy  they  greatly  surpass  the  English 
women  in  the  plantations,  who,  indeed,  have 
taken  the  liberty  of  throwing  all  the  burden  of 
housekeeping  upon  their  husbands,  and  sit  in 
their  chairs  all  day  with  folded  arms. 

"  The  women  in  Canada,  on  the  contrary,  do  not 
spare  themselves,  especially  among  the  common 
people,  where  they  are  always  in  the  fields,  meadows, 
stables,  etc.,  and  do  not  dislike  any  work  what- 
soever. However,  they  seem  rather  remiss  in  regard 
to  the  cleaning  of  the  utensils  and  apartments;  for 
sometimes  the  floors,  both  in  the  town  and  country, 


326  The  Woman 

are  hardly  cleaned  once  in  six  months,  which  is  a 
disagreeable  sight  to  one  who  comes  from  amongst 
the  Dutch  and  EngUsh,  where  the  constant  scour- 
ing and  scrubbing  of  the  floors  is  reckoned  as 
important  as  the  exercise  of  reUgion  itself.  To 
prevent  the  thick  dust  which  is  thus  left  on  the 
floor  from  being  noxious  to  the  health,  the  women 
wet  it  several  times  a  day,  which  renders  it  more 
consistent,  repeating  the  aspersion  as  often  as 
the  dust  is  dry  and  rises  again.  Upon  the  whole, 
however,  they  are  not  averse  to  taking  a  part  in 
all  the  business  of  housekeeping;  and  I  have 
with  pleasure  seen  the  daughters  of  the  better 
sort  of  people,  and  of  the  Governor  himself,  not 
too  finely  dressed,  and  going  into  kitchens  and  cel- 
lars, to  look  that  everything  be  done  as  it  ought." 

From  Montreal  Kalm  went  to  Quebec,  where 
he  remained  for  a  month,  afterwards  revisiting 
Montreal.  The  result  of  his  peregrinations  is  that 
he  feels  qualified  to  take  up  the  delicate  task  of 
instituting  a  comparison  between  the  ladies  of 
the  two  places.  Quebec,  he  points  out,  enjoys 
the  advantage  of  being  frequented  by  the  king's 
ships,  which  seldom  go  to  Montreal.  Hence  the 
ladies  of  Quebec  equal  the  French  in  good  breed- 
ing, whereas  those  of  Montreal,  shut  out  from 
intercourse  with  the  officers  and  their  wives,  are 
less  polished  in  manner.  Everywhere,  but  espe- 
cially at  Montreal,  it  is  a  habit  of  fashionable 
people  to  show  signs  of  amusement  when  a  stranger 
blunders  in  speaking.  This,  to  Kalm,  seems 
quite  natural  and  excusable.  On  the  whole  his 
preference    would    seem    to    incline    towards    the 


The  Woman  327 

ladies  of  Montreal.  But  here  his  views  can  best 
be  set  forth  in  his  own  words. 

"One  of  the  first  questions  a  Canadian  lady 
proposes  to  a  stranger  is  whether  he  is  married? 
The  next,  how  he  likes  the  ladies  of  the  country, 
and  whether  he  thinks  them  handsomer  than 
those  of  his  own  country?  And  the  third,  whether 
he  will  take  one  home  with  him?  There  are  some 
differences  between  the  ladies  of  Quebec  and  those 
of  Montreal.  Those  of  the  last  place  seemed  to 
be  generally  handsomer  than  those  of  the  former. 
Their  behaviour,  likewise,  seemed  to  me  to  be 
somewhat  too  free  at  Quebec,  and  of  a  more  becom- 
ing modesty  at  Montreal.  The  ladies  at  Quebec, 
especially  the  unmarried  ones,  are  not  very  indus- 
trious. A  girl  of  eighteen  is  reckoned  very  poorly 
off  if  she  cannot  enumerate  at  least  twenty  lovers. 
These  young  ladies,  especially  if  of  a  higher  rank, 
get  up  at  seven  and  dress  till  nine,  drinking  their 
coffee  at  the  same  time.  When  they  are  dressed 
they  place  themselves  near  a  window  that  opens 
into  the  street,  take  up  some  needlework,  and 
sew  a  stitch  now  and  then;  but  turn  their  eyes 
into  the  street  most  of  the  time.  When  a  young 
fellow  comes  in,  whether  they  are  acquainted 
with  him  or  not,  they  immediately  lay  aside  their 
work,  sit  down  by  him,  and  begin  to  chat,  laugh, 
joke,  and  invent  douhle-entendres;  and  this  is 
reckoned  being  very  witty.  In  this  manner  they 
frequently  pass  the  whole  day,  leaving  their  mothers 
to  do  all  the  business  in  the  house. 

*'  In  Montreal  the  girls  are  not  quite  so  volatile, 
but  more  industrious.      They  are  always  at  their 


328  The  Woman 

needlework,  or  doing  some  necessary  business  in  the 
house.  They  are  hkewise  cheerful  and  content;  and 
nobody  can  say  that  they  want  either  wit  or  charms. 
Their  fault  is  that  they  think  too  well  of  them- 
selves. However,  the  daughters  of  people  of  all 
ranks,  without  exception,  go  to  market  and  carry 
home  what  they  have  bought.  They  rise  as  soon, 
and  go  to  bed  as  late,  as  any  of  the  people  in  the 
house.  I  have  been  assured  that,  in  general, 
their  fortunes  are  not  considerable,  owing  to  the 
smallness  of  the  family  income  and  the  large 
number  of  children.  The  girls  at  Montreal  are 
very  much  displeased  that  those  at  Quebec  get 
husbands  sooner  than  they.  The  reason  of  this 
is  that  many  young  gentlemen  who  come  over 
from  France  with  the  ships  are  captivated  by 
the  ladies  at  Quebec,  and  marry  them.  But  as 
these  gentlemen  seldom  go  up  to  Montreal,  the 
girls  there  are  not  often  so  happy  as  those  of  the 
former  place." 

The  information  supplied  by  Kalm  does  not 
point  to  an  elaborate  style  of  hving,  even  at  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  And  in  the 
passages  which  have  been  quoted  he  is  writing 
about  a  small  minority — the  town  population  as 
he  saw  it  when  the  guest  of  the  chief  officials  in 
Canada.  His  account  of  life  in  the  parishes  is 
brief  and  fragmentary.  He  observed  a  high  state 
of  cultivation  along  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  in  the 
immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  towns.  But  there 
is  nothing  in  his  description  of  the  habitants^  to 
qualify  the  impression  of  wide-spread  poverty  which 
comes   to  us  from  other  sources.     "The  common 


The  Woman  329 

people  in  the  country  seem  to  be  very  poor.  They 
have  the  necessaries  of  hfe  and  but  httle  else. 
They  are  content  with  meals  of  dry  bread  and 
water,  bringing  all  other  provisions,  such  as  but- 
ter, cheese,  flesh,  poultry,  eggs,  etc.,  to  town  in 
order  to  get  money  for  them,  for  which  they  buy 
clothes  and  brandy  for  themselves,  and  dresses 
for  their  women.  Notwithstanding  their  poverty, 
they  are  always  cheerful  and  in  high  spirits." 

In  the  present  instance,  Kalm  is  not  quoted 
as  a  final  authority  on  the  social  life  of  Canada,, 
still  less  as  one  whose  judgment  of  Canadian 
women  should  be  accepted  without  reserve.  From 
a  variety  of  evidence  we  have  good  reason  to  believe 
that  sprightliness,  natural  grace,  and  a  love  of 
good  company  abounded  among  the  ladies  of 
Quebec  and  Montreal  at  the  period  when  he  wTote. 
For  us  the  chief  value  of  Kalm  lies  in  his  disclo- 
sure of  conditions  which  were  still  largely  primi- 
tive. And  if  in  1749  he  does  not  present  us  with 
anything  Uke  a  complex,  highly  organised  society, 
what  must  we  think  of  the  simpUcity  that  pre- 
vailed at  the  time  of  Laval  and  Frontenac? 

The  truth  is  that  after  searching  the  seven- 
teenth century  for  types  of  Canadian  women,  we 
find  two  and  two  only.  These  are  the  wife  and 
the  nun.  Each  in  her  own  day  had  a  distinct 
duty  to  perform,  and  each  stands  out  before  pos- 
terity with  perfect  clearness.  Beyond  them  it 
would  be  profitless  to  go.  There  was  no  vice- 
regal court,  centring  in  the  wife  of  the  governor.. 
No  contemporary  of  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson 
fomented   discord   among   the   faithful.     No   witch 


33©  The  Woman 

was  burned.  Aside  from  Madeleine  de  Verchdres, 
the  heroine  of  a  single  incident,  no  Canadian 
woman  figured  prominently  in  arms.  No  ruler 
drew  his  inspiration  from  an  Egeria  of  Quebec. 
No  poetess  aroused  the  colony  by  her  lays.  There 
remain  the  wife  and  the  nun. 

Of  these,  the  last  is  the  easier  to  portray.  For 
the  life  of  the  religious  we  have  documents  in 
abundance.  Their  archives  embrace  a  long  series 
of  letters,  dating  from  founders  like  Marie  de 
ITncarnation  and  Marguerite  Bourgeoys.  Their 
good  deeds  were  described  by  all  who  wrote  of 
Canada  in  that  day,  as  in  this.  But  the  wife  of 
the  habitant  is  inarticulate.  Even  in  cases  where 
she  could  use  the  pen,  she  had  scant  time  for  cor- 
respondence. Early  in  life  she  had  taken  up 
serious  duties,  for  the  authorities  of  both  Church 
and  State  held  that,  if  possible,  she  should  marry 
at  fifteen.  In  the  writings  of  Tanguay  and  Suite 
we  often  come  upon  the  phrase,  "elle  epousa." 
For  the  woman  of  New  France  marriage  meant 
great  and  heroic  usefulness,  but  in  one  sense  these 
two  words  may  be  called  an  epitaph.  They  sound 
for  her  of  whom  they  are  written,  the  knell  of 
personal  identity.  The  woman  who  marries  at 
fifteen,  and  becomes  the  mother  of  from  eight  to 
eighteen  children,  loses  her  personal  ambitions  and 
lives  for  the  advancement  of  the  family.  It  could 
hardly  be  otherwise  amidst  wealth  and  comfort. 
What,  then,  must  it  have  been  on  a  clearing  ia 
the  forest?  The  woman  who  helped  her  husband 
fight  famine  at  Dautre  did  not  think  often  of  her 
biographer.     Her  chief  ambitions  were  to  feed  the 


The  Woman 


331 


children,  keep  them  from  the  Iroquois,  and  teach 
them  the  catechism. 

Thus  outside  the  ranks  of  the  rehgious  we 
look  in  vain  for  celebrated  names.  But  though 
the  average  woman  of  New  France  is  less  famous 
than  Jeanne  d'Arc,  her  just  praise  should  not  be 
withheld  simply  because  she  neglected  to  startle 
the  world  by  spectacular  performances.  Aulard,. 
who  admires  the  French  Revolution,  says  that 
its  true  hero  is  neither  Mirabeau,  nor  Danton,  nor 
Robespierre,  but  the  French  nation.  Likewise  the 
anonymous,  unvaunted  labours  of  the  French- 
Canadian  wife  should  be  remembered  with  admira- 
tion, not  only  by  her  descendants,  but  by  all  who 
prize  courage  and  unselfishness. 

In  taking  up  the  question  of  antecedents  and 
quahfications,  two  things  are  noticeable.  It  has 
been  said, 

"  Kind  hearts  are  more  than  coronets, 
And  simple  faith  than  Norman  blood." 

The  women  of  New  France  had  both  simple  faith 
and  Norman  blood.  True,  they  did  not  possess 
the  hneage  of  Lady  Clara  Vere  de  Vere,  but  though 
peasants  their  strongest  strain  of  race  came  from  1^ 
ancestors  whom  RoUo  led  in  triumph  to  the  Seine,  ^' 
and  William,  to  the  Thames.  As  for  faith,  they 
saw  in  the  cure  their  spiritual  guide,  and  in  the 
Church,  the  ark  of  their  salvation.  I  refer  here 
to  the  first  comers.  As  we  have  seen,  the  most 
heroic  era  in  the  development  of  Canada  lies  before 
1663,  when  the  colonv  strove  with  daily  perils 
and  privations.     Then  the  population  w^as  homo- 


332  The  Woman 

geneouSj  drawn  largely  from  northwestern  France 
and  unified  by  religious  aspiration.  At  this  dis- 
tance of  time  it  would  be  rash  to  say  that  all  the 
sifted  grain  came  over  during  the  period  of  the 
Hundred  Associates,  the  settlers  brought  in  by 
Talon  being  of  much  poorer  quality.  But  it  is 
significant  that  Normandy,  Perche,  and  the  He  de 
France  supplied  such  a  large  proportion  of  the 
settlers  who  lived  through  war  and  famine  dur- 
ing the  first  fifty  years. 

In  Canada,  as  in  many  other  European  colonies, 
the  men  formed  for  some  time  a  large  majority 
of  the  population.  Talon's  effort  to  reduce  this 
disparity  of  the  sexes,  and  promote  colonisation 
through  wedlock,  is  the  most  conspicuous  feature 
of  his  poUcy.  He  it  was  who  brought  over  the 
filles  du  rot,  placed  bounties  on  marriage,  and 
further  encouraged  the  bachelor  to  select  a  mate 
by  fining  him  while  he  remained  single.  This 
whole  episode  is  worthy  of  careful  study  for  what 
it  implies.  Canada  was  built  up  by  the  king, 
and  its  settlement  does  not  represent  any  strong 
initiative  on  the  part  of  the  nation.  The  com- 
munities founded  by  colonising  seigniors  like  Gif- 
fard  and  Repentigny  are  one  phenomenon.  An- 
other is  to  be  seen  in  the  Villemarie  of  Maison- 
neuve,  which  represents  a  strong  private  incentive 
taking  its  rise  from  religion.  But  with  exceptions 
here  and  there  the  colony  was  the  work  of  the 
'Crown,  unlike  the  English  settlements  in  America 
^hich  were  the  fruit  of  private  enterprise. 

It  would  have  been  a  burlesque  to  fine  the 
inveterate  bachelor  so  long  as  the  scarcity  of  women 


The  Woman  333 

prevented  him  from  securing  a  wife.  The  king, 
therefore,  in  his  character  of  wise  and  indulgent 
father  must  provide  enough  marriageable  damsels 
to  meet  the  demand.  This  need  was  one  which 
Louis  XIV.  could  not  view  without  lively  and 
sympathetic  concern.  Rising  to  the  occasion,  he 
ordained  that  women  for  Canada  should  be  found. 
Where  he  got  them,  how  they  were  selected, 
under  what  arrangements  they  were  conveyed 
to  Quebec,  and  how  they  were  disposed  of  on 
their  arrival,  are  subjects  which  have  provoked 
abundant  discussion.  The  circumstances  of  the 
case  were  urgent,  and  the  king  did  not  propose 
that  the  bachelors  of  his  realm  overseas  should  go 
forlorn.  But  in  recent  centuries  it  is  not  often 
that  wives  have  been  supplied  en  masse  for  expec- 
tant lovers,  who  stand  ready  on  the  beach  to  await 
their  landing. 

Our  first  statement  regarding  these  brides 
elect  we  may  take  from  Marguerite  Bourgeoys. 
"The  filles  du  roi  were  young  girls,  who,  having 
lost  their  parents  or  suffered  misfortune  at  an 
early  age,  received  their  nurture  at  the  cost  of 
the  state  in  the  General  Hospital  of  Paris"  This 
is  an  exact  definition  of  what  the  phrase  originally 
meant.  But  it  took  on  a  wider  significance  dur- 
ing the  progress  of  the  emigration.  Orphans 
brought  up  in  Paris  did  not  prove  strong  enough 
for  the  rough  work  put  on  them  in  Canada,  and 
after  a  little  experience  the  terms  of  the  specification 
were  changed.  To  quote  again  from  Marguerite 
Bourgeoys:  "Therefore  in  1670  M.  Colbert  asked 
M.  de  Harlay,  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  to  have 


334  The  Woman 

chosen  by  the  curSs  of  thirty  or  forty  parishes 
around  Rouen,  one  or  two  girls  from  each  parish 
who  might  be  sent  to  Canada  instead  of  the  filles 
du  rot."  Here  we  see  the  second  step  in  the 
process.  Finally,  all  young  women  sent  over  to 
Canada  under  royal  auspices  received  the  name 
of  filles  du  rot. 

A  passage  in  the  Nouveaux  Voyages  of  the 
Baron  La  Hontan  has  given  rise  to  some  con- 
troversy regarding  these  recruits.  His  story  is 
that  they  were  no  better  than  they  should  be, 
and  on  reaching  Canada  found  husbands  in  a 
manner  hasty  and  undignified.  Dressed  out  with 
details  which  the  Baron  also  furnishes,  it  makes 
a  readable  passage,  and  that  is  chiefly  what  the 
author  wanted.  Writing  at  a  time  when  his  for- 
tunes were  very  low,  he  strove  to  produce  a  book 
that  would  sell.  The  marriage  market  at  Quebec 
supplied  him  with  just  such  a  subject  as  he  needed, 
and  he  turned  it  to  his  own  purpose.  Not  improb- 
ably loose  characters  slipped  in  now  and  then. 
A  singular  passage  in  The  Despatches  of  William 
Perwich  would  seem  to  indicate  that  this  might 
have  been  the  case.*  But  considered  in  the  light 
of  a  general  attack  on  the  filles  du  roi,  La  Hontan' s 
gossip  breaks  down  altogether  under  the  cross- 
examination  to  which  it  has  been  subjected.  At 
present  the  weight  of  opinion  is  wholly  against  it. 

Talon  desired  that  the  habitant  should  have 
for  his  wife  a  healthy  peasant  girl,  who  was  strong 

♦See  The  Despatches  oj  William  Perwich,  English  Agent  in  Paris, 
j66Q-i6yy.  Edited  jor  the  Royal  Historical  Society  by  M.  Beryl  Curran^ 
London,  iQoj.     P.  13  (Letter  of  May  22,  1669). 


The  Woman  335 

enough  to  face  hardships,  and  was  not  above  her 
work.  Canada,  far  away,  was  known  as  the 
home  of  barbarians,  bears,  and  beavers.  Hence 
for  ladies  of  dehcate  tastes  or  sensibihties,  the 
prospect  of  settUng  on  a  bush  farm  would  have 
been  intolerable.  But  the  filles  du  rot  were  not 
born  to  the  purple,  neither  did  they  possess  dis- 
ordered nerves.  Judging  from  results,  the  climate 
of  Canada  agreed  with  their  health,  and  in  most 
cases  emigration  must  have  been  followed  by  a 
distinct  enhancement  of  status.  When  we  think 
of  the  French  peasantry  as  described  by  La  Bruyere, 
we  shall  expend  the  less  sentiment  on  the  fille 
du  rot  in  her  new  home.  Once  arrived  at  Quebec 
her  courtship  may  have  been  brief,  and  her  wed- 
ding unmarked  by  the  usual  delays.  But  the 
romance  of  a  three-volume  novel  is  not  for  every 
one  in  this  world,  and  manages  de  convenance  are 
not  always  failures. 

La  Hontan  says:  "After  the  choice  was  deter- 
mined, the  marriage  was  concluded  upon  the 
spot,  in  the  presence  of  a  priest  and  a  public  notary; 
and  the  next  day  the  Governor-General  bestowed 
upon  the  married  couple  a  bull,  a  cow,  a  hog,  a 
sow,  a  cock,  a  hen,  two  barrels  of  salted  meat, 
and  eleven  crowns."  To  this  extent  the  Baron 
is  accurate,  that  little  time  was  wasted  in  t5dng 
the  knot,  and  that  the  king  held  out  a  bounty 
on  marriage.  The  inducements  varied  from  time 
to  time,  but  La  Hontan  does  not  exaggerate  the 
extent  of  the  royal  generosity.  Colbert  wrote 
Talon  that  "as  a  general  rule  never  to  be  departed 
from,"  youths  should  marry  at  eighteen  or  nine- 


336  The  Woman 

teen,  and  girls  at  fourteen  or  fifteen.  This  is  a 
solemn  injunction,  which  the  Intendant  must  con- 
vey to  the  whole  people  in  their  own  interest. 
Apart  from  what  the  king  gave,  every  girl  was 
expected  to  bring  her  husband  a  dowry  of  some 
sort.  At  best  it  was  httle,  and  it  might  be  no 
more  than  a  barrel  of  bacon.  But  whatever  the 
value  of  the  dot,  or  the  form  which  it  assumed, 
particulars  were  carefully  set  down  in  the  mar- 
riage contract.  Of  these  documents  none  is  more 
interesting  than  that  which  shows  what  Madeleine 
Boucher,  a  sister  of  Pierre  Boucher,  Governor  of 
Three  Rivers,  received  in  1647  from  her  family. 
The  items  include  "two  hundred  francs,  four 
sheets,  two  table-cloths,  six  napkins,  a  mattress, 
two  blankets,  two  dishes,  six  spoons  and  six  tin 
plates,  a  pot  and  a  kettle,  a  table  and  two  benches, 
a  kneading  trough,  a  chest  with  lock  and  key, 
a  cow,  and  a  pair  of  hogs."  From  this  survey  of 
what  the  more  prosperous  possessed,  much  may 
be  inferred.  Even  when  Kalm  wrote,  seventy-five 
years  later,  it  was  customary  for  guests  at  a  din- 
ner to  produce  their  own  knives  and  forks. 

There  are  those  who  can  say  "paix  et  peti, 
don  de  Dieu."  But  with  the  Iroquois  in  the 
neighbourhood,  a  habitant's  wife  could  derive 
httle  solace  from  such  a  proverb.  When  her 
husband  had  been  slain  by  the  Mohawks,  or  she 
received  a  letter  like  that  which  Francois  Hertel 
wrote  home  after  he  had  been  tortured,  poverty 
did  not  seem  the  worst  blow.  Yet  to  some  danger 
is  more  supportable  than  ennui,  and,  psycholog- 
ically speaking,  the  toil  of  clearing  the  forest  may 


The  Woman 


337 


have  been  relieved  by  the  very  risks  which  were 
entailed.  If  the  family  throve  the  mother  had 
her  reward,  and  no  unreasonable  degree  of  thriv- 
ing was  asked  for.  Food,  raiment,  and  health 
were  the  three  fundamentals.  With  an  adequate 
suppl}^  of  these,  more  distant  ambitions  did  not 
disturb  the  home  of  the  early  habitant.  Dante 
has  left  us  a  picture  of  the  simple  and  beautiful 
Ufe  which  was  led  in  old  Florence — the  old  Flor- 
ence of  his  imagination.  There  the  mother  kept 
careful  watch  over  the  cradle,  and  comforted  her 
children  with  the  prattle  which  is  so  dear  to  parents. 
Again,  drawing  the  tresses  from  her  distaff,  she 
told  her  household  tales  of  the  Trojans,  and  of 
Fiesole  and  of  Rome.  Likewise  in  the  forests  of 
New  France  the  mother  repeated  folk-lore  brought 
from  across  the  seas,  and  sang  the  chansons  which 
are  still  so  dear  to  the  French-Canadian  race. 
The  day  of  small  things  is  often  remembered 
with  regret  by  those  who  find  that  possessing  is 
not  more  enjoyable  than  striving;  and  happiness 
was  not  banished  from  the  potato  patch  and  the 
raspberry  bushes  of  the  clearing. 

First,  then,  among  the  women  of  the  colony 
we  have  the  filles  du  roi,  and  others  whose  early 
training  had  fitted  them  to  work  with  their  own 
hands.  A  step  higher  in  the  social  scale  are  the 
demoiselles.  These  young  ladies  also  left  France 
at  the  instance  of  the  crown,  and  were  designed 
to  become  the  wives  of  officers.  In  1667  Talon 
reports  that  a  consignment  of  one  hundred  and 
nine  girls  has  arrived  from  Dieppe  and  La  Rochelle, 
including  "fifteen  or  twenty  of  pretty  good  birth; 


338  The  Woman 

several  of  them  are  really  demoiselles  and  tolerably 
well  brought  up."  In  1670  he  wanted  a  few  more 
of  the  better  born,  and  named  four  in  his  request. 
Fifteen  came,  and  the  Intendant,  overwhelmed 
by  the  response,  wrote  back  that  he  now  had  an 
abundance  of  this  class  and  advised  against  send- 
ing more.  Undoubtedly  the  seignior's  wife  relied 
to  some  extent  upon  the  help  of  servants.  But 
all  were  poor  together,  and  it  was  not  as  a  chdte- 
laine  that  the  young  lady  "tolerably  well  brought 
up"  entered  the  wilderness.  Within  the  house 
and  without  it,  she,  too,  may  have  used  her  hands 
more  often  than  those  think  who  speak  in  flowing 
language  about  Canadian  feudalism. 

New  France  had  no  Maid  of  Orleans,  no  Maid 
of  Saragossa,  but  a  girl  of  fourteen,  sprung  from 
seigniorial  stock,  performed  one  feat  of  arms 
which  reflects  clearly  the  conditions  and  the 
temper  of  that  age.  This  was  Madeleine  de  Ver- 
cheres,  daughter  of  an  ensign  in  the  Carignan 
Regiment,  and  heroine  par  excellence  of  the  Indian 
wars. 

The  date  was  1692,  a  year  when  the  colony 
sustained  the  double  attack  of  Iroquois  and  Eng- 
lish. Nothing  could  be  thought  of  but  the  war. 
Frangois  Hertel  and  DTberville  had  attacked  the 
English.  Du  Lhut,  La  Durantaye,  and  Callieres 
had  exchanged  fierce  blows  with  the  Iroquois. 
Pemaquid  and  Schenectady  in  ashes  were  one 
sign  of  the  struggle.  In  retaliation  Phips  had 
besieged  Quebec,  and  twice  the  English  had 
marched  overland  in  vain  to  the  St.  Lawrence. 
As  a  result.  New  France  became  a  camp,  or  rather 


The  Woman 


339 


each  log  house  was  turned  into  a  miniature  for- 
tress. It  was  a  time  when  no  man  could  remain 
with  his  family.  The  active  fighting  force  of 
Canada  ranged  the  woods  in  small  war  parties, 
or  garrisoned  strategic  points.  At  home,  in  the 
parishes,  things  must  get  on  as  best  they  could, 
with  grandfathers  and  young  girls  in  the  reserve. 

The  tale  of  Madeleine  de  Vercheres  comes  to 
us  from  her  own  pen;  not  as  a  bit  of  vainglory, 
but  as  a  plain  recital  of  facts  set  down  in  after 
years  at  the  order  of  a  governor,  the  Marquis 
de  Beauharnais.  Parkman  has  translated  a  large 
part  of  her  narrative  in  the  detailed  account  which 
he  gives  of  this  incident,  and  to  him,  or  to  the 
original  in  Ferland's  Collection,  the  reader  must 
go  for  full  particulars.  But  in  brief  epitome  the 
story  runs  as  follows: 

The  seigniory  granted  to  J  arret  de  Vercheres 
lay  on  the  south  side  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  midway 
between  Montreal  and  the  mouth  of  the  Richelieu. 
Along  the  same  shore  stretched  a  group  of  other 
seigniories  which  were  created  at  the  same  time 
in  favour  of  his  brother  ofhcers — Varennes,  Contre- 
coeur,  St.  Ours,  and  Sorel.  At  the  close  of  October, 
1692,  Vercheres  was  serving  under  Frontenac  at 
Quebec,  and  for  some  reason  his  wife  had  gone 
to  Montreal,  twenty  miles  away.  The  defences  of 
the  seigniory  were  a  fort  and  a  blockhouse,  which 
had  to  be  kept  in  good  order,  for  the  RicheUeu 
was  "the  Iroquois  path."  On  the  22d  of  October, 
the  habitants  of  Vercheres,  free  from  thought  of 
danger,  were  outside  the  fort,  working  in  the 
open  field.     Inside  the  defences  were  some  women 


340  The  Woman 

and  children,  two  soldiers,  a  man  of  eighty,  and 
the  two  sons  of  the  seigneur.  Of  these  the  elder 
was  a  boy  of  twelve,  the  younger  being  ten.  ]\Iade- 
leine,  aged  fourteen,  was  outside  the  fort  near  the 
river,  but  not  far  away  from  shelter.  Her  first  hint 
of  danger  was  a  sound  of  musket  fire  from  the  field. 
Then  looking  up  she  saw  forty  or  fifty  Iroquois 
rush  from  the  wood.  With  all  her  speed  she  ran 
to  the  fort  amid  whistUng  bullets. 

At  the  gate  she  found  two  women  crying  for 
their  husbands,  who  had  just  been  killed.  After 
she  had  driven  them  in,  she  shut  the  gate  and 
began  to  look  for  ammunition.  This  quest  took 
her  to  the  blockhouse  where  the  supplies  were 
kept.  Finding  the  two  soldiers  there  in  a  state 
of  fright,  she  drove  them  out,  provided  herself 
and  her  brothers  with  guns,  put  on  a  man's  hat, 
and  prepared  for  resistance  to  the  end.  By  this 
time  the  two  soldiers  had  recovered  their  wits 
and  were  of  some  assistance. 

After  putting  her  garrison  in  state  of  siege, 
Madeleine  fired  a  cannon  with  the  double  design 
of  impressing  the  Indians,  and  giving  a  signal 
to  some  of  her  own  people  who  were  in  the  woods. 
Those  in  the  field  she  could  not  save,  and  they 
were  killed  by  the  savages  under  her  eyes.  Pres- 
ently on  the  river  side  she  saw  some  refugees, 
a  habitant  named  Fontaine,  bringing  his  family 
to  the  shelter  of  the  fort.  Between  the  landing 
and  the  gate  was  a  fire  zone  which  the  fugitives 
must  cross.  The  Iroquois,  thinking  the  place 
well  defended,  were  at  some  distance,  but  the  two 
soldiers  decUned  to  issue  forth  in  aid  of  the  Fon- 


The  Woman  341 

taine  family.  Hoping  that  the  savages  would 
think  this  a  ruse,  Madeleine  opened  the  gate, 
reached  the  landing,  and  brought  back  the  little 
party  in  full  sight  of  the  foe.  She  then  ordered 
that  as  often  as  an  Indian  showed  himself  in  the 
open,  he  should  be  shot  at. 

These  tactics,  born  of  desperation,  had  their 
effect.  Deceived  by  so  much  noise  and  activity, 
the  Iroquois  decided  not  to  attempt  a  coup  de 
main.  But  in  the  uncertainty  it  must  have  been 
a  terrible  night  for  the  besieged.  To  increase  the 
display  of  force,  Madeleine  divided  her  followers. 
Assuming  the  post  of  greatest  danger,  she 
remained  in  the  fort  wdth  her  brothers,  the  old 
man  of  eighty,  and  a  servant  named  Laviolette. 
The  two  soldiers  and  Fontaine  she  placed  in  the 
blockhouse  to  guard  the  women  and  children. 
A  wooden  gallery  between  maintained  the  Une 
of  communication,  but  if  the  fort  fell  the  block- 
house was  still  defensible.  It  was  a  fierce  night 
with  a  tempest  of  snow  and  hail — the  very  moment 
for  an  assault.  Well  aware  of  their  danger  the 
garrison  gave  up  no  time  to  sleep,  even  by  watches. 
In  the  fort  Madeleine  occupied  one  bastion,  in 
each  of  two  others  she  stationed  a  young  brother, 
and  the  old  man  occupied  a  fourth.  Despite  wind, 
snow,  and  hail,  they  all  remained  at  their  posts, 
exchanging  cries  of  "All's  well"  between  the  fort 
and  blockhouse,  with  such  other  augmentation 
of  the  din  as  was  possible.  "One  would  have 
thought,"  says  Madeleine  in  her  narrative,  "that 
the  place  was  fuU  of  soldiers." 

Next  morning  all   felt   well  satisfied  with  the 


342  The  Woman 

result  of  these  singular  efforts,  and  took  heart  of 
grace  to  continue  the  defence.  But  they  were 
not  out  of  danger,  for  the  Iroquois  maintained 
the  siege  throughout  the  next  week.  The  con- 
cluding scene  must  be  described  in  Madeleine's 
own  words.  "At  last  M.  de  la  Monnerie,  a  lieu- 
tenant sent  by  M.  de  Callieres,  arrived  in  the  night 
with  forty  men.  As  he  did  not  know  whether  the 
fort  was  taken  or  not,  he  approached  as  silently 
as  possible.  One  of  our  sentinels,  hearing  a  slight 
sound,  cried,  'Qui  vive?'  I  was  at  the  time  dozing, 
with  my  head  on  a  table  and  my  gun  lying  across 
my  arms.  The  sentinel  told  me  that  he  heard  a 
voice  from  the  river.  I  went  up  at  once  to  the 
bastion  to  see  whether  it  was  French  or  Indians. 
I  asked,  'Who  are  you?'  One  of  them  answered, 
'We  are  Frenchmen;  it  is  La  Monnerie,  who  comes 
to  bring  you  help.'  I  cause"*  the  gate  to  be  opened, 
placed  a  sentinel  there,  and  went  down  to  the 
river  to  meet  them.  As  soon  as  I  saw  M.  de  la 
Monnerie,  I  saluted  him,  and  said,  'Monsieur,  I 
surrender  my  arms  to  you,'  He  answered  gal- 
lantly, 'Mademoiselle,  they  are  in  good  hands.' 
'Better  than  you  think,'  I  returned.  He  inspected 
the  fort,  and  found  everything  in  order,  and  a 
sentinel  on  each  bastion.  'It  is  time  to  relieve 
them.  Monsieur,'  said  I;  'we  have  not  been  off 
our  bastions  for  a  week.'  " 

This  conversation  with  La  Monnerie  shows 
that  the  heroine  of  Verchdres  not  only  knew  how 
to  do  a  brave  deed,  but  knew  how  to  do  it  in  good 
style.  "Playing  the  game"  with  all  the  spirit 
which    a    lively    Celtic    disposition    could    impart. 


The  Woman 


343 


she  remains    a   bright,  alluring    figure,  perennially 
young,  like  the  maidens  on  Keats's  Grecian  Urn. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  so  much  of  the  heroism 
displayed  by  Canadian  women  has  gone  unchron- 
icled.  Thanks  to  the  Marquis  de  Beauharnais, 
we  have  the  story  given  above.  It  was  extraor- 
dinary, and  therefore  has  been  preserved.  On  the 
other  hand,  many  acts  of  self-control  and  courage 
dropped  hopelessly  out  of  sight  in  a  country  where 
to  be  brave  was  the  law  of  life.  At  the  present 
time  we  cannot  easily  think  of  Quebec,  Three 
Rivers,  and  Montreal  as  frontier  towns.  But  each 
in  its  turn  was  the  limit  of  civilisation,  and  the 
line  of  seigniories  had  to  be  carried  westward  step 
by  step.  Throughout  the  course  of  this  process 
the  frontiersman's  wife  is  a  distinct  type,  sharing 
her  husband's  dangers  and  privations,  taking  more 
than  her  share  of  the  toil,  and  uprearing  that 
large  family  which  has  prevented  the  French  race 
from  becoming  extinct  in  America.  Yet  one  must 
regret  that  we  know,  and  can  know,  so  little  of 
the  individuals  who  strove  thus  for  their  kin  and 
country  in  the  vieux  temps. 

In  the  case  of  the  rtun  our  records  are  far  more 
complete  and  satisfactory.  The  wife  of  the  habi- 
tant, who  was  almost  always  illiterate,  could  not 
leave  written  memorials  of  her  life  and  thoughts. 
But  the  nun,  besides  being  able  to  use  the  pen, 
was  engaged  in  pursuits  which  required  that  it 
should  be  constantly  employed.  Each  convent  had 
official  records  of  some  kind.  Ecclesiastical  business 
involved  correspondence  with  the  bishop  and  other 


344  The  Woman 

authorities  in  the  Church.  In  Europe  there  were 
many  who  desired  information  regarding  the  nature 
of  the  work  which  the  sisters  were  carrying  on 
among  the  Indians.  And  when  naming  these 
different  classes  of  documents,  one  must  not  for- 
get personal  letters  to  friends  and  relatives. 
Coming  to  Canada,  as  they  did,  at  an  early  date, 
the  nuns  at  once  established  an  impregnable  place 
in  the  community,  and  their  archives  extending 
to  the  present  day  are  a  mine  of  historical  infor- 
mation. 

Moreover  it  is  not  merely  a  question  of  the 
different  sisterhoods,  each  possessing  a  special 
character  and  following  out  its  own  line  of  work. 
While  as  an  independent  corporation  each  of  these 
bodies  has  a  separate  life,  the  student  of  the 
past  is  not  compelled  to  fix  his  attention  upon 
the  corporation  alone.  There  were  the  Ursuhnes, 
the  Nuns  of  the  Congregation,  the  Grey  Nuns, 
and  others.  But  apart  from  the  records  which 
enable  us  to  examine  each  community  as  an  insti- 
tution, there  exists  a  wealth  of  biographical  mate- 
rial. Giving  force  and  impact  to  these  societies 
are  the  women  who  form  them — human  beings 
whose  acts  can  be  traced  with  certainty,  and  whose 
sacrifices  add  lustre  to  the  annals  of  the  French 
race  in  Canada.  Whether  engaged  in  teaching, 
nursing,  or  religious  contemplation,  they  are  clear- 
cut  individuals  upon  whom  the  biographer  can 
seize,  as  upon  Champlain  or  Frontenac.  Without 
speaking  of  vows  or  orders,  let  us  first  run  over 
a  list  of  names:  Mme.  de  la  Peltrie,  Marie  dcL^ 
ITncarnation,    Jeanne    Mance,     Marguerite     I'Our-,^ 


The  Woman 


345 


^eoys^_Mme.  D'Ailleboust,  and  Jeanne  Le  Ber. 
Omitting  these  women,  the  history  of  New  France 
would  lose  an  element  as  important  as  that  which 
is  represented  by  Brebeuf  and  Jogues,  by  Laval 
and  Saint- Vallier. 

To  appreciate  the  position  of  the  nuns  during 
the  first  years  of  their  residence  at  Quebec,  we 
must  bear  in  mind  one  feature  of  difference  between 
French  and  English  colonisation.  When  the  May- 
flower came  to  anchor  at  Plymouth,  men,  women, 
and  children  left  its  deck  for  the  naked  shore. 
The  Puritan  emigration,  from  the  outset,  comprised 
both  sexes  and  all  ages.  But  Champlain's  colony 
at  Cape  Diamond  began  with  only  a  handful  of 
fur  traders.  Nine  years  elapsed  before  Louis 
Hebert  brought  py^r  his  family,  and  even  after 
a  start  had  been  made  the  infiltration  of  women 
was  very  slow.  The  founding  of  Villemarie  is 
another  example.  In  1641,  when  Maisonneuve's 
band  set  sail  from  La  Rochelle,  it  consisted  of 
forty  men  and  four  women.  Moreover,  of  these 
four  two  were  devoted  to  religion,  and  thus  stood 
outside  the  range  of  matrimony.  It  was  to  a  land 
where  family  life  was  not  well  established  that 
the  first  nuns  came.  Such  women  as  had  arrived 
before  them  were  toiUng  for  their  husbands  and 
children,  with  scant  leisure  to  lavish  upon  those 
outside  their  home  circle.  Works  of  mercy  could 
not  be  undertaken  systematically  and  on  a  large 
scale  without  feminine  help,  and  in  the  circum- 
stances this  meant  the  presence  of  nuns. 

The  wants  of  the  infant  colony  were  made 
known  to  the  pious  in  France  through  the  medium 


046  The  Woman 

of  the  Jesuit  Relations.  Le  Jeune's  annual  reports 
as  theyTssued  from  the  press  of  Sebastian  Cramoisy 
at  Paris  were  read  and  reread  in  a  hundred  con- 
vents. With  him,  naturally,  the  mission  claimed 
first  place,  and  the  opportunity  which  his  writings 
disclosed  was  that  of  labour  among  the  Indians. 
The  earliest  of  his  Relations,  appearing  in  1632, 
kindled  an  instantaneous  interest,  and  after  the 
next  two  had  been  devoured  by  the  religious,  he 
began  to  receive  letters  from  volunteers.  This 
can  be  seen  from  a  passage  which  is  given  promi- 
nent place  in  the  preface  to  the  Relation  for  1635. 
Here  he  expresses  surprise  that  "many  young 
nuns,  consecrated  to  our  Lord,  wish  to  join  us — 
overcoming  the  fear  natural  to  their  sex,  in  order 
to  come  and  help  the  poor  girls  and  poor  women 
among  these  savages.  There  are  so  many  of  these 
who  write  to  us,  and  from  so  many  convents,  and 
from  various  Orders  in  the  Church,  of  the  strictest 
discipline,  that  you  would  say  each  is  first  to  laugh 
at  the  hardships  of  the  sea,  the  riotous  waves  of 
the  ocean,  and  the  barbarism  of  these  countries." 

Le  Jeune  seeks  to  restrain  enthusiasm  within 
bounds  by  pointing  out  the  present  lack  of  ac- 
commodations. *T  must  give  this  advice  to 
all  these  good  sisters — that  they  be  very  care- 
ful not  to  urge  their  departure  until  they  have 
here  a  good  house,  well  built,  and  well  endowed; 
otherwise  they  would  be  a  burden  to  our  French, 
and  could  accomplish  little  for  these  peoples. 
Men  can  extricate  themselves  much  more  easily 
from  difficulties;  but,  as  for  the  nuns,  they  must 
have  a  good  house,  some  cleared  land,  and  a  good 


The  Woman  347 

income  upon  which  to  Hve,  and  relieve  the  pov- 
erty of  the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  savages." 
But  having  shown  the  nature  of  the  difficulty,  he 
does  not  propose  that  the  obstacle  shall  remain. 
At  the  close  of  his  preface  he  exclaims: 

"Is  it  possible  that  earthly  possessions  are  of 
greater  concern  to  us  than  life  itself!  Behold 
these  tender  and  delicate  virgins  all  ready  to  haz- 
ard their  lives  upon  the  waves  of  the  ocean,  to 
come  seeking  little  souls  in  the  rigours  of  an  air 
much  colder  than  that  of  France,  to  endure  hard- 
ships at  which  even  men  would  be  appalled;  and 
will  not  some  brave  lady  be  found  who  will  give 
a  passport  to  these  Amazons  of  the  great  God, 
endowing  them  with  a  house  in  which  to  praise 
and  serve  His  divine  Majesty  in  this  other  world? 
I  cannot  persuade  myself  that  our  Lord  will  not 
dispose  some  one  to  this  act." 

The  Jesuits,  then,  set  forth  in  the  most  emphatic 
manner  the  need  there  was  at  Quebec  for  nuns. 
Nor  did  Le  Jeune's  appeal  go  long  unheard.  In 
the  Relation  for  1636  he  is  able  to  write:  "I  sought 
last  year  a  brave  soul  who  might  plant  the  great 
standard  of  charity  in  these  lands.  The  mighty 
God  of  bounties  has  provided  one.  I  learn  that 
Madame  de  Combalet  wishes  to  put  her  hand  to 
the  work,  and  found  a  hospital  in  New  France. 
See  how  it  has  pleased  her  to  inform  me  of  it: 
'God  having  given  me  the  desire  to  aid  in  the 
salvation  of  the  poor  savages,  it  has  seemed  to 
me,  after  reading  the  account  which  you  have 
written  of  it,  that  what  you  consider  can  best 
serve    for    their    conversion    is    the    establishment 


34^  The  Woman 

in  New  France  of  Hospital  Nuns.  I  have  there- 
fore resolved  to  send  thither  this  year  six  work- 
men, to  clear  some  land  and  to  construct  a  lodging 
for  these  good  sisters.  I  entreat  that  you  will 
take  care  of  this  establishment.  I  have  asked 
Father  Chastelain  to  speak  to  you  about  it  for  me, 
and  to  explain  to  you  my  plans  more  in  detail. 
If  I  can  do  anything  else  for  the  salvation  of  these 
poor  people,  for  whom  you  take  so  much  trouble, 
I  shall  consider  myself  happy.'  " 

Aid  from  Madame  de  Combalet  meant  a  great 
deal,  since  she  was  Richelieu's  niece.  Better 
known  as  the  Duchesse  D'Aiguillon,  she  remained 
conspicuous  for  good  works  throughout  a  long 
generation,  and  her  gift  of  the  hospital  at  Quebec 
is  only  one  among  her  many  acts  of  generosity. 
The  letter  from  which  Le  Jeune  quotes  shows 
that  her  thought,  like  his,  was  rather  the  conver- 
sion of  savages  than  the  care  of  French  colonists. 
Anticipating  the  idea  which  in  our  -own  time  is 
represented  by  the  medical  missionary,  she  be- 
lieved that  the  souls  of  the  heathen  could  best 
be  reached  through  the  affectionate  care  of  their 
bodies.  The  enthusiasm  which  then  touched  pious 
hearts  in  France  was  for  the  salvation  of  the 
natives.  But  the  course  of  events  is  not  easy 
to  forecast,  and  though  the  habitant  suffered 
some  neglect  at  the  outset,  he  eventually  derived 
the  full  benefit  of  many  charitable  institutions 
which  were  established  in  the  interest  of  the  savage. 

By  the  close  of  1638  the  first  hospital  building 
in  Canada  was  completed  and  ready  for  occupa- 
tion.    The  next  spring  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen, 


The  Woman 


349 


prompted  by  the  Duchesse  D'Aiguillon,  sent  over 
to  it  three  sisters  taken  from  the  Hospital  Nuns 
at  Dieppe.  But  they  did  not  come  alone.  On 
the  same  ship  were  four  women  who  represented 
another  religious  project,  and  were  equally  pre- 
pared to  pcLSs  the  remainder  of  their  days  among 
the  savages.  These  were  Madame  de  la  Peltrie, 
Mere  Marie  de  ITncarnation,  Sister  St.  Joseph, 
and  Sister  Cecile  de  la  Croix. 

The  Duchesse  D'Aiguillon  was  not  the  only 
benefactress  to  be  touched  by  Le  Jeune's  appeal. 
In  quite  another  part  of  France  it  awakened  a 
response  which  seems  still  more  remarkable.  Mme. 
de  la  Peltrie  was  by  birth  a  Norman  of  noble  family. 
At  the  time  she  read  Le  Jeune's  Relation  of  1635, 
she  was  a  rich  widow,  not  much  over  thirty.  Of 
an  emotional  temperament  and  strong  religious 
instincts,  she  took  fire  when  she  heard  this  call 
from  Canada.  Soon  afterwards  she  fell  ill,  but 
on  recovering  was  more  eager  to  set  forth  than 
before.  The  objections  raised  by  her  relatives 
she  either  broke  down  or  eluded.  Like  so  many 
of  the  religious  who  went  to  New  France,  she 
felt  that  she  had  received  a  special  vocation.  Hers 
was  to  build  a  seminary  at  Quebec  for  the  train- 
ing of  little  Indian  girls.  The  Duchesse  D'Aiguil- 
lon had  been  content  to  provide  funds,  but  Mme. 
de  la  Peltrie  did  not  stop  short  at  the  gift  of  money. 
Her  two  chief  resolves  were  that  she  should  go 
to  Quebec  in  person,  and  that  her  seminary  should 
be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Ursuhnes. 

As  Mme.  de  la  Peltrie  was  not  herself  a  nun, 
it  remained  to  select   a  Mother  Superior  for  the 


350 


The  Woman 


new  convent.  The  Jesuits,  who  were  called  on 
for  advice,  named  an  Ursuhne  of  Tours,  Mere 
Marie  de  ITncamation.  It  was  a  wise  choice. 
Religious  enthusiasm  Mme.  de  la  Peltrie  possessed 
in  abundance,  but  her  character  was  not  remark- 
able for  poise.  Marie  de  ITncamation,  with  a 
greater  clearness  of  purpose  and  a  greater  depth 
of  nature,  combined  administrative  gifts  which 
exactly  fitted  her  for  the  task  she  was  asked  to 
assume.  She,  even  more  than  Mme.  de  la  Peltrie, 
is  the  founder  of  the  Ursuline  order  in  Canada. 

The  birth  name  of  Marie  de  ITncamation  was 
Marie  Guyard.  From  early  childhood  she  pos- 
sessed rehgious  instincts  which  pointed  towards 
the  convent,  but  to  please  her  parents  she  mar- 
ried at  seventeen  a  silk  manufacturer  called  Mar- 
tin. After  two  years  of  marriage  her  husband 
died,  leaving  her  with  a  boy  baby.  The  history 
of  her  inner,  spiritual  life  is  traced  in  full  detail 
by  her  biographers,  of  whom  Charlevoix  and  the 
late  Abbe  Casgrain  are  the  chief.  To  the  fervour 
of  the  mystic  she  joined  that  strong  sense  of  the 
actual  which  marked  Odo  of  Cluny  and  Bernard 
'  of~Clairvaux.  Discouragements  which  came  from 
without  could  not  break  her  resolve.  In  the 
labours  of  her  office  she  must  at  times  have  found 
relief  from  the  alternating  experiences  of  rehgious 
exaltation  and  religious  depression. 

The  numerous  letters  which  were  written  by 
Marie  de  ITncamation  from  Quebec  are  an  his- 
torical record  of  the  utmost  value,  and  besides 
these  there  exists  much  information  regarding  the 
activities  of  the  Ursulines  in  her  day.     Like  the 


j\Iarie  de  l'Ixcarnation 


The  Woman  o^  i 

missionaries,  the  nuns  set  themselves  at  once  to 
l^am  the  speech  of  the  savages.  Thus,  immedi- 
ately after  the  first  little  company  had  landed, 
Marie  de  T Incarnation  took  up  the  study  of  the 
Algonquin  and  Montagnais  dialects,  while  Sister 
St.  Joseph  apphed  herself  to  Huron.  The  con- 
struction of  the  first  Ursuhne  convent  was  finished 
in  1642,  and  the  nuns  were  then  enabled  to  occupy 
a  stone  building,  roughly  finished  inside,  which 
measured  ninety-two  feet  by  twenty-eight.  This, 
their  pride  and  joy,  constructed  at  a  cost  of  fifty 
thousand  livres,  was  burned  in  1650.  At  first  the 
blow  seemed  crushing,  for  in  the  hope  of  erecting 
a  home  which  might  be  final  and  permanent,  they 
had  expended  all  their  money  on  this  edifice  that 
the  flames  consumed  in  an  hour.  The  blow  was 
the  more  severe  from  coming  immediately  after 
the  destruction  of  the  Huron  mission.  Not  only 
were  the  sisters  crushed  with  grief  at  the  martyr- 
dom of  Lalemant  and  Brebeuf,  but  the  flight  of 
many  Hurons  to  Quebec  thrust  upon  them  fresh 
duties  just  when  they  had  lost  their  home. 

In  France  the  burning  of  the  convent  appeared 
to  some  a  divine  intimation,  signif3ang  that  the 
Ursulines  should  return  from  Canada.  But  it 
was  not  so  interpreted  by  Marie  de  ITncamation. 
Through  dint  of  faith  and  energy  she  soon  pro- 
vided the  sisters  with  a  new  building,  in  which 
they  prosecuted  their  work  of  training  Indian 
girls.  Yet,  while  this  was  the  task  that  brought 
the  Ursulines  to  Canada,  they  soon  found  them- 
selves confronted  with  a  larger  duty.  As  the 
savages   diminished,   the   colonists   increased,    and 


352 


The  Woman 


even  during  the  hfetime  of  Marie  de  1' Incarnation 
the  education  of  French  giris  became  the  most 
important  occupation  of  the  Ursuhnes.  In  1669 
the  number  of  Indian  children  under  their  charge 
varied  from  twenty  to  thirty,  and  there  was  a 
growing  number  of  French  girls  who  were  able 
to  pay  one  hundred  and  twenty  livres  for  board 
and  education.  Moreover,  from  as  early  a  date 
as  1652  Marie  de  1' Incarnation  made  it  a  point  of 
settled  poUcy  to  select  novices  from  among  the 
Canadian  population.  She  recognised  that  sisters 
from  France  might  wish  to  return,  and  that  the 
effectiveness  which  comes  from  continuity  could 
best  be  secured  from  developing  a  permanent 
body  of  Canadian  nuns. 

As  teachers  of  French  girls,  the  Ursulines  be- 
came a  great  force  in  the  life  of  New  France. 
Marie  de  1' Incarnation  says  that  without  the  in- 
struction which  they  were  able  to  give,  the  daugh- 
ters of  the  colonists  would  be  worse  than  savages. 
Nor  was  this  an  exaggeration.  Apart  from  its 
insistence  upon  religion,  the  convent  education  of 
that  day  aimed  at  preserving  purity  of  speech, 
at  inculcating  courtesy,  and  at  humanising  the  pupil 
through  the  medium  of  such  polite  accomplishments 
as  seemed  suited  to  the  needs  of  a  young  country. 
From  then  till  now  the  Ursulines  have  received  the 
gratitude  of  French  Canada.  At  the  outset  they 
identified  themselves  with  the  land,  and  ever 
since  they  have  gained  credit  for  being  thoroughly 
local  in  their  attachments.  M.  Suite  is  referring  to 
the  Ursulines  when  he  says,  speaking  distinctively 
from  the  standpoint  of  a  French  Canadian:  "Bet- 


The  Woman 


353 


ter  educated  than  we,  they  preserved  in  the  family 
the  accent,  the  vocabulary,  the  grace,  the  'tone  of 
good  company'  which  the  clearer  of  the  forest, 
the  coureur  de  bois,  and  the  canoe-man  were  so 
often  led  to  forget.  Who  was  it  that  softened 
the  boisterous  songs  of  France,  and  made  them 
those  beautiful  melodies  of  which  we  are  so  proud? 
The  women,  beyond  doubt.  Certainly  it  was  not 
the  men.  The  diction,  alike  polished  and  suited 
to  the  speech  of  the  land,  reveals  no  common 
influence.  These  songs  have  passed  through  the 
hands  of  the  nuns." 

Marie  de  1' Incarnation  lived  until  1672,  having 
made  it  for  over  thirty  years  a  labour  of  love  to 
serve  the  people  of  New  France,  both  French  and 
Indian.  As  St.  Louis  administered  justice  beneath 
the  oak  of  Vincennes,  tradition  shows  her  seated 
beneath  an  ancient  ash  that  still  shelters  the 
cloister  of  the  Ursulines  at  Quebec.  There,  sur- 
rounded by  a  httle  group  of  savages  to  whom  she 
is  teaching  the  rudiments  of  Christianity,  she 
remains  in  the  memory  of  French  Canada  an 
apostle  of  love  and  faith  amidst  the  savagery  of 
an  untamed  wilderness. 

What  Marie  de  1' Incarnation  was  for  Quebec, 
Marguerite  Bourgeoys  proved  to  be  for  Montreal. 
She  was  not,  however,  the  first  woman  who  under- 
took works  of  religion  and  charity  at  Villemarie. 
This  honour  belongs  to  Jeanne  Mance,  a  native 
of  Nogent-le-Roi,  and  the  fearless  supporter  of 
Maisonneuve  amid  dangers  and  privations  which 
have  seldom  been  equalled.  At  both  Quebec  and 
Montreal  the  Hospital  preceded  the  Convent,  and 


354 


The  Woman 


in  both  cases  the  endowment  was  provided  by  the 
munificence  of  a  pious  lady.  The  original  gift  of 
the  Duchesse  D'Aiguillon  to  the  Hotel  Dieu  of 
Quebec  was  22,400  livres — a  sum  which  she  soon 
after  increased  by  a  second  grant  of  40,000  livTes. 
The  benefactress  of  the  hospital  at  Villemarie  was 
Madame  de  BuUion,  and  the  original  endowment 
amounted  to  42,000  livres. 

But  if  one  gave  the  money  which  created  the 
institution,  another  supphed  the  ungrudging  effort 
which  made  it  a  blessing.  To  appreciate  what  was 
wrought  by  Mile.  Mance  and  her  companions,  we 
must  read  the  History  of  DoUier  de  Casson.  At  the 
farthest  outpost  of  Christian  colonisation,  this  band 
of  zealous  men  and  women  encountered  dangers 
which  at  Quebec  were  unknown.  "In  the  midst  of 
life  we  are  in  death"  was  a  saying  which  the  people 
of  Villemarie  could  not  forget  for  a  single  day. 
During  the  first  twenty-five  years  they  lay  exposed 
to  the  attack  of  the  Iroquois,  who  lurked  in  the 
hospital  garden,  and  carried  off  the  inhabitants 
from  within  a  hundred  yards  of  their  homes.  In 
1657  a  labourer  was  shot  and  killed  while  mend- 
ing a  roof.  In  1660  a  priest  named  Le  Maistre 
was  set  upon  and  killed  within  a  stone's  throw  of 
the  settlement.  Later  on  in  the  same  year  Vignal, 
another  priest,  was  attacked,  killed,  burned,  and 
eaten  within  a  mile  from  the  fort.  Those  who 
were  with  him  suffered  the  worst  fate  of  capture 
and  torture.  At  the  beginning  of  1661  Major 
Closs^,  the  Miles  Standish  of  Villemarie,  was  slain 
a  short  distance  from  the  fort,  owing  to  the  fact 
that  both  his  pistols  missed  fire.    Just  after   that 


The  Woman  355 

tliirteen  colonists  were  captured  by  the  Iroquois. 
In  March  ten  more  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  sav- 
ages. In  May  another  party  suffered  severe  loss 
vvithin  gunshot  of  the  chief  redoubt.  The  exploits 
of  Maisonneuve  and  Dollard  are  what  we  remem- 
ber most  easily.  But  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that 
the  nuns  of  Villemarie  lived  for  twenty-five  years 
Nvithout  any  adequate  protection  among  aU  the 
dreadful  dangers  which  war  with  the  Iroquois 
implied. 

Mademoiselle  Mance,  who  was  not  a  nun, 
came  in  1642  to  found  the  hospital.  In  1653  came 
Sister  Marguerite  Bourgeoys  from  the  Congrega- 
tion of  Notre-Dame  at  Troyes.  Throughout  the 
most  trjdng  time  in  the  history  of  Montreal,  she 
and  Jeanne  Mance  were  the  leading  spirits  among 
that  group  of  religious  women  who  almost  seemed 
to  seek  death  beneath  the  shadow  of  Mount  Royal. 
Marguerite  Bourgeoys  was  the  younger  by  thirteen 
years.  She  had  at  first  joined  the  Congregation 
of  Notre-Dame  without  taking  vows,  but  several 
years  before  her  departure  for  Canada  she  became 
a  full  member  of  the  community.  Maisonneuve, 
who  was  bom  in  the  same  part  of  France,  met  her 
on  revisiting  his  home,  and  found  that  she  had 
long  been  awaiting  an  opportunity  to  throw  in 
her  lot  with  the  struggling  enthusiasts  of  Ville- 
marie. From  the  moment  of  her  arrival  in  New 
France  she  became  a  source  of  inspiration  to  all 
about  her.  Less  austere  than  Mile.  Mance,  less 
mystical  than  Marie  de  ITncarnation,  she  com- 
bined fervour  with  an  abundance  of  those  virtues 
Vvhich  have  their  root  in  human  affection.     It  is 


356  The  Woman 

not  too  much  to  say  that  for  almost  half  a  century 
she  was  by  influence  and  attainment  the  first 
woman  in  Montreal.  She  founded  the  Church  of 
Notre-Dame  de  Bonsecours.  She  was  the  moving 
spirit  among  the  Nuns  of  the  Congregation.  Good- 
ness radiated  from  her  benign  personality,  and 
her  work  bore  the  more  lasting  results  from  the 
wisdom  of  her  methods.  What  she  was  may  be 
judged  from  her  portrait.  No  face  of  greater 
goodness  and  tenderness  has  come  down  from 
that  period. 

But  above  everything  else  Marguerite  Bour- 
geoys  was  a  teacher.  When  she  began,  her  re- 
sources were  much  fewer  than  those  of  the  Ursu- 
lines.  She  opened  her  first  school  in  a  barn,  which 
was  also  a  dormitory.  The  class  met  for  recitation 
on  the  ground  floor,  while  teacher  and  pupils  both 
found  their  sleeping  rooms  in  what  had  been 
designed  for  a  hay-loft.  With  a  true  genius  for 
instructing  the  young,  Soeur  Bourgeoys  never 
suffered  her  attention  to  be  deflected  from  this 
work.  As  Mother  Superior  she  carried  the  Nuns 
of  the  Congregation  through  the  period  of  risk  and 
doubt.  Before  her  death  in  1700,  they  were 
lodged  in  a  large  stone  building  on  Notre-Dame 
Street,  and  freed  from  all  fear  that  poverty  would 
force  them  to  discontinue  their  labours.  But  before 
posterity  Marguerite  Bourgeoys  stands  out  as  an 
individual  teacher,  rather  than  as  an  organiser  of 
education.  Nor  could  one  close  the  story  of  her 
life  better  than  by  quoting  the  first  lines  of 
Newman's  poem  "On  St.  Phihp  Neri  in  His 
School." 


Marguerite  Bourgeoys 


The  Woman  357 

"  This  is  the  Saint  of  gentleness  and  kindness, 
Cheerful  in  penance,  and  in  precept  winning; 
Patiently  healing  of  their  pride  and  blindness 
Souls  that  are  sinning." 

Told  at  length,  the  acts  of  the  Canadian  nuns 
would  fill  a  voluminous  chronicle.  We  have  only 
been  able  to  glance  at  the  work  begun  by  a  few 
leaders.  But  in  the  second  rank  are  many  others 
who  displayed  equal  courage  and  unselfishness: 
The  merry  Soeur  Saint  Joseph,  among  the  Ursu- 
lines;  the  unfimching  Mere  St.  Ignace,  among  the 
Hospital  Nuns  of  Quebec;  and  among  the  Hospital 
Nuns  of  Montreal,  Soeur  Bresolles,  caring  for  the 
wounded  when  the  Iroquois  could  be  seen  just 
outside  the  gate,  and  the  weaker  sisters  were  faint- 
ing from  fright.  Whether  it  be  leaders  or  follow- 
ers, the  underlying  motive  is  the  same — religious 
faith  prompting  to  lives  of  sacrifice.  And  when 
the  biographer  has  finished  his  sketch  of  Marie 
de  ITncarnation  or  Marguerite  Bourgeoys,  he  had 
best  remain  content  with  his  plain  narrative. 
Women  like  these  do  not  ask  for  eulogy.  Their 
best  praise  is  the  record  of  their  deeds,  written 
without  comment  in  the  impressive  simplicity  of 
truth. 


INDEX 


Abenakis,  170. 

Acadia,    26,    37,   63-65,    120, 

122,  168,  170. 
Accault,  Michel,  219. 
Achiganaga,  226-28. 
Aiguillon,  Duchesse  d',  348- 

49. 
Aillebout,  de  Mantelt,  176. 
Aillebout,  Governor  d',   280. 
Aillebout,  Mme.  d',  268. 
Albanel,  Father,  226,  252. 
Algonquins,  2,  3,  54,  69. 
Alsace,  32, 
America,    its   appeal   to   the 

imagination  of  Europe,  47- 

Andover  lawsuit,  262. 
Andros,  Sir  Edmund,  41. 
Anne  of  Austria,  ^;^,  94,  274. 
Argall,  168. 
Argenson,  275,  280. 
Arnold,  Matthew,  30. 
Assiniboines,  204,  206. 
Aubigne,  Agrippa  d*,  10. 
Aulard,  A.,  331. 
Avaugour,  Baron  d',  206-07, 

209,  281,  291. 
Avenel,  Vicomte  Georges  d', 

26. 
Aztecs,  85. 


B 

Bacon,  Francis,  49. 
Bacon,  Roger,  7. 
Baker,  Alice,  179. 
Barlow  and  Amidas,  48. 


Basque  poachers,  67.' 

Bastonnais,  312,  320. 

Bay  of  Chaleurs,  64. 

Beauhamais,  Marquis  de, 
339- 

Beauport,  Seigniory  of,  139, 
141. 

Beaupre,  Seigniory  of,  141. 

Beaver,  habits  of,  195-96. 

Beaver  skins,  value  of,  189- 
190. 

Bernard  of  Saxe-Weimar,  155 

Biard,  Pierre,  123. 

Biencourt,  123. 

Bienville,  memorial  to,  at  Mo- 
bile, 183. 

Bigot,  234,  257. 

Bossuet,  21,  39,  44,  271. 

Boston,  171. 

Boucher,  Madeleine,  dowry 
of,  33^- 

Bourassa,  Henri,  316. 

Bourgeoys,   Marguerite,    no, 

267.  333'  355-57- 

Bradley,  A.  G.,  138,  214. 

Brandy  question,  251. 

Brantome,  10. 

Brebeuf,  Jean  de,  sketch  of, 
91-102.    ' 

Br^soUes,  Sister,  357. 

Brouage,  4,  61. 

Brown  and  Gilmore's  print- 
ing-press, 288. 

Browning,  E.  B.,  16. 

Bryce,  James,  315. 

Bullion,  Mme.  de,  354. 

Burke,  Edmund,  43. 

Burroughs,  John,  228. 

Buteux,  Father,  104. 


359 


360 


Index 


Cabot,  John,  8,  47,  48,  117- 

Caen,  E.  de,  129. 

Caen,  Gtiillavime  de,  139. 

Callieres,  313. 

Calvin,  10. 

Canada,  passim. 

Canning,  George,  243. 

Cape  Diamond,  2. 

Carheil,  Father,  187. 

Carignan    Regiment,    147-49 

240,  242-43,  265,  298. 
Carillon,  40,  70. 
Carleton,  Sir  Guy,  317. 
Cartier,  Jacques,  2,  3,  4,  10, 

23.  27,  65. 
Casco  Bay,  176. 
Casgrain,  Abbe,  350. 
Cataraqui,     Conference      of, 

297-300. 
Catholic  Revival,  13. 
Caughnawaga  Indians,  102. 
Cellini,  Benvenuto,  11. 
Champlain,  Samuel  de,  Out- 
line of  his  career,  60-75. 
First  fight  with  the  Iro- 
quois, 70-73. 
War  with  Onondagas,  74. 
Compared  with  La  Salle, 

75-79- 
Voyages,  60,  62. 
Habitation,  23. 
miscellaneous  references, 
2,   4,    5,    10,    52,    120, 
124-26,   266,  290. 
Chapais,  Thomas,  230,  316. 
Charles   I.   of  England,    169, 

170. 
Charles  III.  of  Spain,  257. 
Chasse  Gallcric,  La,  185,  188. 
Chateau  de  Ramezay,  24. 
Chateau  St.  Louis,  24. 
Chauvin,  65,  119. 
CI0SS6,  Major,  354. 
Colbert,  character  of,  35-36. 
and  Talon,  240-52. 
general    references,     17, 
19,   21,  30,   208,   305- 

07.  333- 
College  de  Clermont,  233. 


Columbus,  7,  8,  9,  82. 
Combalet,  Mme.  de,  347. 
Company  of  New  France,  or 

of  the  Hundred  Associates, 

132-36,  138-39,  242. 
Company  of  the  West  Indies, 

242. 
Concordat  of  15 16. 
Conde,  Prince  de,  26,  27,  63, 

120. 
Conde,  the  Great,  36,  156. 
Conquistadores,  48,  85. 
Convicts  as  colonists,  11 7-18. 
Cooper,  J.  F.,  53. 
Copernicus,  9. 
Copley,  J.  S.,  290. 
Cortez,   12. 
Couillard,    130. 
Coureur  de  bois,  151,  185-228, 

306. 
Cramoisy,  Sebastian,  50,  96. 
Crepieul,  Father,  104. 
Crevecoeur,  Fort,  219. 
Cure,  position  of,  in  Canada, 

263,  281-83,  286-87. 

D 

Dante,  9,  337. 
Dartmouth  College,  84. 
Dauversi^re,  Jerome  le  Royer 

de  la,  14,  107-09,  266. 
De  Chastes,  60,  64,  120. 
Deerfield,  40. 
Denonville,  173-74,  310. 
Dollar  sign,  origin  of,  80-81. 
Dollard,  159-64,  205,  355. 
Dollier  de  Casson,  4,  iii,  134, 

160,  164,  256,  267,  354. 
Dominicans,  86. 
Dongan,  Thomas,  172. 
Doughty,  A.  G.,  172. 
Dover,  176. 
Drake,  Sir  Francis,  13. 
Dreams    in    superstition     of 

Indians.  loo-ioi. 
Druillettes,  Gabriel,  104,  170- 

72. 
Drummond,  W.  H.,  85. 
Duchesneau,  20, 193,  211,215, 

305-08. 


Index 


361 


Dufferin,  Lord,  42. 

Du  Lhut,  75,  196,  210-28, 

Dumas,  229. 

Dutch  in  the  East  Indies,  ;i^. 

E 

East  India  Company,  ^^. 
Edict  of  Nantes,  28. 

Revocation  of,  12. 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  262. 
Eliot,  John,  84,  172. 
Enjalran,  Father,  226. 
Estrees,  Due  d',  208. 


Fontainebleau,  5. 

Faillon,  Abbe,  98,   159,   265, 

278. 
Fancamp,  Baron  de,  158. 
Fenelon,  Abbe,  no. 
Ferland,  Abbe,  339. 
Festin  d,  manger  tout,  58. 
Filles  du  rot,  245,  332-35. 
Fiske,  John,  118. 
Florence,  ^37. 
Folle  Ayome,  trial  of,   225- 

28. 
Fosdick,  L.  J.,  135. 
France,  place  in  history,  14- 
16. 
colonial    expansion,    16- 

17- 
in  era  of  Louis  XIV.,  17- 

20. 
absolutism  of  sovereign, 

20-21. 
development  of  the  mon- 
archy in,  21-23. 
I  architecture  of  sixteenth 
century  in,  23-24. 
aristocracy  of,   as    asso- 
ciated   with    Canada, 
25-26. 
Roman  Catholic  Chtirch 
in,  36-40. 
Francis  I.,  24,  27. 
Francis,  Sir  P.,  305. 
Franciscans,  86. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  290. 


Fronde,  wars  of  the,  34,  169. 
Frontenac,    career    01,    291- 

his  war  parties,  174-78. 
and  the  coureurs  de  bois, 

186. 
and  Du  Lhut,  211-13. 
general  reference,  18,  20, 

23,  26. 
Frontenac,  Mme.  de,  294-95. 
Fur  trade  as  a  monopoly,  118- 

20. 
profits  of,  189-190. 


Gagnon,  Phil6as,  288. 
Gallicanism,  5,  38-39. 

in  Canada,  270-74. 
Gameau,  F.  X.,  277. 
Gasp6,  4,  64. 
Gibbon,  18. 

Giffard,  Robert,  139,  266. 
Girouard,  Judge,  173. 
Gomara,  81. 

Gonsalvo  da  Cordova,  155. 
Goyer,  Father,  313. 
Graham,  Cunninghame,  49. 
Gregory  VII,,  Pope,  39. 
Groseilliers     (Medard    Chou- 

art),  77,  197-209, 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  155, 
Guyon,  Jean,  140, 

H 

Hakluyt,  Richard,  50, 
Hapsburg,  House  of,  29,  32. 
Harvard  College,  84. 
Hastings,  Warren,  305. 
Hebert,     Louis,     sketch     of, 

68,  121-31,  266. 
Hebert,  Mme.,  128,  131. 
Heine,  40. 

Hennepin,  Louis,  50,  218-25. 
Henry  III.  of  France,  237. 
Henry  IV.  of  France,  21,  22, 

27-29,  60,  63,  67,  119. 
Herodotus,  3. 
Hertel,    Francois,    176,    178- 

79.  267,  336. 


362 


Index 


Hill,  J.  J..  247. 
Hochelaga,  4. 
Holt,  Henry,  36. 
Honfleur,  4,  65,  125. 
Horace,  3,  67. 

Hospital   at   Montreal,    353- 
55- 
at  Quebec,  347-49- 
Hudson's  Bay,  206. 
Hudson's  Bay  Company,  181, 

190,  207—09,  242. 
Huguenots,     relations     with 
Richelieu,  31. 
exclusion   from.  Canada, 

134-36. 
general  references,  6,  36, 

37.  90- 

Hundred  Associates,  Com- 
pany of,  132-36.  138-39. 
(See  also  Company  of  New 
France.) 

Hurons,  54,  57.  69,  95,  98- 
103. 

Hutchinson,  Anne,  261. 


Iberville,  Pierre  d',  179-83. 
Incas,  85. 

Indians,      North     American. 
Their    characteristics,    53- 

58. 
Innocent  III.,  Pope,  39. 
Innocent  XL,  Pope,  38-39. 
Intendant,   evolution   of  the 

office  of,  236-40. 
Iroquois,  i,  2,  3,  23,  40,  47, 

54,  57,  69,  95,  297-300. 
Isabella  of  Castile,  82. 


Tames  II.,  172. 

James  Bay,  180. 

Jansenists,  37. 

Jans6nius,  270. 

Jesuit  Relations,  character  of, 

96-98,  104,  171. 
Jesuits,  origin  of,  86. 

in  Acadia,  88. 

on  coureurs  de  bois,  186- 
88.  -^^^ 


Jesuits,  and  Frontenac,  30a- 
08. 
general  references,  5,  13, 

37. 
Jogues,  Father,  93-95,  102. 
Johnson,  Samuel,  46. 
Joliet,  75,  77,  204-205. 
Jonquest,  Etienne,  130. 
Journal    des     Jesuites,     272, 

280. 
Joutel  on  death  of  La  Salle, 

78.  79- 


Kalm,  Peter,  289,  324-29. 
Kipling,  R.,  92. 
Kirke,  David,  99,  140,  168. 
Kirke,    Louis    and    Thomas, 
169. 

L 

La  Barre,  309. 

La  Bruy^re,  335. 

La  Chesnaye,  208,  213. 

La    Chesnaye,    massacre    at, 

173- 
Lachine  Massacre,   157,   167, 

173.310- 
Lachine  Rapids,  63,  69. 
La  Galissoni^re,  288. 
La  Hontan,  Baron,  50. 

on  the  coureurs  de  bois, 
185-86. 

on  the  filles  du  roi,  334. 

on  the  beaver,  195. 
Lake  Champlain,  2,  68,  73. 
Lake  of  the  Woods,  206. 
Lake  St.  Peter.  64. 
Lalemant,  Charles,  91. 
Lalemant,  Gabriel,  102. 
Lalemant,  Jerome,  93. 
La  Perche,  140. 
Laprairie,  312. 
La  Regnardi^re,  141. 
La  Roche,  119. 
La  Rochelle,  31. 
La  Salle,  2,  47,  190,  196-97, 
215-17. 

compared    with    Cham- 
plain,  75-78. 
Las  Casas,  85, 


Index 


363 


La  Toupine,  213. 
Lauson,  Jean  de,  141. 
Laval,  Bishop,  25,  39,  332. 

career  of,  274-88. 
Law,  John,  238. 
League,  wars  of,  237. 
Le  Ber,  Jeanne,  268. 
Leblond  de  Brumath,  275-76. 
Le  Brun,  Vigde,  323. 
Le  Caron,  Father,  128. 
Le  Clercq,  Father,  103,  105, 

124,  129-30. 
Le  Jetme,  Paul,   52,   57,  98, 

112-13,  195,  346-48. 
Le  Moyne,  Charles,  80. 

sons  of,  at  siege  of  Que- 
bec, 1690,  312. 
Le  Moyne,  Father,  95. 
Lescarbot,  Marc,  26,  66,  122- 

23- 
L'Estoile,  10. 

Le  Sueior,  coureur  de  hois,  228. 
Le  Sueur,  Father,  282. 
Lettres  Edifiantes,  87,  97. 
Locke,  John,  261. 
Loire,   chateavix  of  the,    2^, 

25- 

Longueuil,  barony  of,  142. 
Lord,  W.  F.,  308. 
Lorin,  Henri,  103,  114. 
Louis  XIIL,  21,  32-33. 
Louis  XIV.,   17,   18,   19,  21, 

27,  34,  172. 
Louisbourg,  40,  51,  311. 
Louisiana,  77,  183. 
Loyola,  86,  87. 
Luther,  10. 

M 

Macaulay,  Lord,  18-19,  149. 
M'Lennan,  William,  210. 
Madeleine  de  Vercheres,  166, 

338-43- 
Maisonneuve,    Paul   de   Cho- 

medy,  Sieur  de,  14,  1 09-11, 

157-59-  266,  290. 
Maitland,  Sir  T.,  308. 
Mance,    Jeanne,    5,    iio-ii, 

267,  353-55- 
Manufactures,     development 
of,  by  Talon,  249-53. 


Marcel,  Etienne,  31. 

Maricourt,   180. 

Marie  de  I'lncamation,   267, 
272,  350-53- 

Markham,  Sir  Clements,  312. 

Marlborough,  20. 

Marquette,  Father,  75,  77. 

Massachusetts,  41,  170,  261. 

Mass6,  Father,  88. 

Mather,  Cotton,  262. 

Mayflower,  the,  13. 

Mazarin,  34,  35,  170,  334. 

M^dicis,  Marie  de,  ^;^. 

Menendez,  12. 

Meulles,  310. 

Mexico,  51,  298. 

M^zy,  de,  281. 

Michillimackinac,     76,      187, 
225. 

Micmacs,  26,  54. 

Milton,  2. 

Missions,  83-85,  263. 

Mississippi,   77,   172,   203-05. 

Mohawks,  55. 

Moltke,  308. 

Montagnais,  54,  57. 

Montaigne,  49. 

Montalembert,  290. 

Montmagny,   291-92. 

Montmorency,  Anne  de,  25. 

Montreal,  fotinding  of,    105- 
12. 
general    references,  5,   12, 
157-59.  176,  211,  253. 

Monts,  de,  64-67,  120. 

More,  Sir  T.,  49. 

Morel,  Father,  287. 

Morin,  Germain,  282. 

Mortagne,  140. 

Mosquitoes,    Le   Jetme's   de- 
scription of,  53. 

Mount  Desert  Island,  65,  168. 

Munro,  W.  B.,  144. 

Murray,  General,  317. 

N 

Nelson,  295. 

New   England,    rivalry   with 

New  France,  40. 

architecture  of,  24. 


3^4 


Index 


Newfoundland,  D'Iberville  in, 

i8i. 
New  France,  passim. 

architecture  of,  24. 
Newman,  Cardinal,  356, 
Nicolet,  75,  195,  197,  200. 
Notre-Dame   de   Bonsecours, 

356. 
Notre-Dame  des  Anges,  95. 
Notre-Dame,  Society  of,  107. 
Ntons  in  Canada,  343-57- 
Nuns    of    the    Congregation, 

355-57. 


Olier,    Jean   Jacques,    5,    14. 
107-11,  266,  272, 

Onondagas,  55.  74,  95- 
mission  to,  202. 

Origin  of  the  Canadian  pop- 
ulation, 149-50. 

Otis,  C.  P.,  60,  73. 

Ottawa,  the,  68,  74. 

Ouasicoude,  224-25. 

Oviedo,  81. 


Panama,  62. 
Papineau,  L.  J.,  320. 
Paraguay,  Jesuits  in,  85. 
Parkman,    Francis,    92,    102, 

112,  179,  194- 
Parlement  of  Paris,  21,  274. 
Pascal,  270. 
Pasteur,  36,  229,  289. 
Peltrie,  Mme.  de  la,  iii,  267, 

349-50- 

Pemaquid,  176,  181. 

Pepperell,  Sir  W.,  311. 

P6rl,  Jean,  227. 

P6ron,  Father,  202. 

Perrot,  Nicolas,  198,  205, 
217-18,  228. 

Perwich,  William,  De- 
spatches of,  334. 

Petrx'a,  Mgr.  de,  279. 

Phips,  Sir  W.,  at  Quebec, 
216-17. 

Picquet,  Abbd,  no. 


Pizarro,  12,  47. 

Plessis,    Bishop,    Sermon   on 

Battle  of  the  Nile,  178, 3i8-» 

20. 
Plymouth,  12,  171. 
Ponce  de  Leon,  47. 
Pontbriand,  Bishop,  288. 
Pontgrave,  63,  67,  68,  69. 
Port  Nelson,  181. 
Portneuf,  176. 

Port  Royal,  27,  65,  125,  168. 
Pragmatic  Sanction  of  1438, 

Printing  in  Canada,  288-90. 
Purchas,  Samuel,  50. 
Puritans,  13,  37. 

Q 

Quebec,  passim. 
Quebec  Act,  318. 
Queylus,  Abb6,  272-73. 

R 

Radisson,  career  of,   75,    77, 

197-209. 
Ragueneau,  Father,  202. 
Raleigh,  Sir  W.,  66. 
Rambaud,  Alfred,  238. 
Rameau,  134. 
R6collets,  5,  86,  89-90,  302, 

308,  313. 
Reformation,  10-14. 
Regnaut,  Christopher,  102. 
Renaissance,  7-10,  14,  24. 
Renan,  194. 
Repentigny,  332. 
Ribaut,  12. 
Ribot.  16. 

Richelieu,  Cardinal,  character 
of,  29-34. 
and  the  Company  of  the 
Hundred      Associates, 

131-36- 
general  references,  6,  27, 
63,  155,  238,  348. 
Riviere  des  Praines,  2. 
Rochemontei.K,  Father  C.  de, 

\i^^9^'  97.  "4- 
•^'^ocroi,  battle  of,  156. 


Index 


2^5 


Roman    Catholic    Church    in 

Canada,  260—90. 
Rouen,  Archbishop  of,  272. 
Rumford,  Count,  290. 
Rupert,  Prince,  207,  242. 
Ryswick,  Peace  of,  183. 


Sable  Island,  119. 

Sagard,  75,  105,  126,  129. 

Saguenay,  63. 

St.  Anthony,  Falls  of,  222. 

St.  Castin,  181. 

St.  Charles  River,  3. 

St.  Croix  Island,  64. 

St.  Germain-en-Laye,  Treaty 

of,  75,  90,  169. 
Ste,-H61ene,  176,  180. 
St.  Ignace,  M6re,  357. 
St.  Joseph,  Soeur,  351,  357. 
St.  Lawrence,  passim. 
St.  Malo,  4,  63. 
St.  Sauveur,  168, 
St.  Simon  on  Frontenac,  294. 
Salieres,  147. 
Salmon  Falls,  177. 
Salone,  E.,  114-16,  130. 
Schenectady,  40,  176-78. 
Schuyler,  John,  312. 

Peter,  312. 
Scrooby,  Congregation  of,  13. 
Seignelay,  197,  213,  219. 
Seigniorial  system  in  Canada, 

137-49- 
Seminary  at  Quebec,  283-86. 
Senecas,  55. 

Senef,  battle  of,  211,  214. 
S6vign6,  Mme.  de,  ^2^. 
Shaksperc,  8,  46,  49. 
Siegfried,  Andre,  114-1^6.  •, 
Sioux,  204,  206,  213-25. 
Soissons,  Comte  de, /26,  27. 
Soncino,  Raimondo,  J17. 
Sovereign    Council      253-54, 

3?5.  307- 
Spain,  19,  32. 
Spanish   Succession,   war  of, 

20. 
Spencer,  Herbert,  249. 
Stadacona,  3,  4. 


Stevenson,  R.  L.,  47. 
Stoughton,  William,   152. 
Stubbs,  Bishop,  11. 
Sully,  Due  de,  29,  30. 
Sulpicians,  5,  14,  86,  90,  105, 

no. 
Suite,    B.,    92,    103,    137-38, 

201,    277,    283,    316,    330, 

352. 


Tadoussac,  4,  63,  65,  67,  119. 
Tailhan,  J.,  205. 
Talon,  career  of,  229-59. 

general    references,     19, 
20,  149,  300-02,  337. 
Tanguay,  Abb^,   151,  330. 
Tartary,  Grand  Khan  of,  ^2. 
Tennyson,  15,  59,  191. 
Three  Rivers,  105,  176. 
Thwaites,  R.  G.,  97. 
Tobacco  Natioti_  253. 
Tocqueville,  A.  ^e,  14, 
Tonty,  Henri,  79,,  211,  218. 
Toiu-aine,  chateaux  of,  23. 
Tracy's     expedition     against 

the  Mohawks,  147,  298. 
Trade,    development  "of    by 

Talon,  249-53. 
Trent,  Council  of,  39. 
Turenne,  156. 


U 

Ultramontanes,  5,  38-39. 
Urban  VIII.,  Pope,  107. 
UrsuHnes,  349-53- 


Vaudre^.i,  the  elder,  215. 

Vaudr^uil,  the  younger,  235. 

Veni  e,  24. 

Verizzano,  8. 

Vejsailles,  5,  23. 

V^nau,    Nicolas    de,    74-75, 

197. 
Villemarie,  13,  107,  109,  no 

198,  266,  332,  354. 


366 


Index 


Vimont,     Barthel6iny,     109, 

III    115. 
Virginia,  41. 
Voltaire,  51. 

W 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  184,  295 
Wheelwright,  Esther,  178. 
WilUam  of  Malmesbury,  57. 


Williams,  Roger,  a6i. 
Wolfe,  312. 

X 

Xavier,  St.  Francis.  87,  88. 
92,  96. 


Yoiing,  Sir  W.,  sof . 


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